27/11/2023 - Until 3 December the Canary Island is hosting an event that this year will focus on understanding the motivations of those who leave their homeland in search of a better future

The island of Lanzarote is once again the venue for filmmakers and audiences to celebrate the 13th edition of Muestra de Cine. Already an unmissable event for any film buff, this year the event will once again be filled with activities. From 23 November to 3 December, the event will feature all kinds of cultural activities, films in various sections and a theme around which there will be reflection and debate: migration.

It is impossible to separate cinema from life, and thanks to the careful work of the (independent) Tenique Cultural Association and the Festival's director, Javier Fuentes Feo, the Canary Island becomes the perfect setting to explore the symbiosis between the stories told on the big screen and the most immediate reality. In previous years, the festival has focused on themes such as wind, fishing and volcanoes. This year, migration is the focal point, a phenomenon not at all foreign to Lanzarote, which welcomes thousands of people every day in search of a more prosperous life.

The Trasfoco section will feature more than twenty titles, all with migration as their main theme. It is a diverse selection that includes classics such as Charles Chaplin’s The Immigrant and Elia Kazan's America, America; as well as more recent films such as Aquí y Allá: Here and There [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Hernández
film profile] by Antonio Méndez Esparza and The Golden Cage [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Diego Quemada-Díez. The common goal of all the selected titles is to provide an open and empathetic viewpoint on the phenomenon of migration, focusing more on understanding what  motivates those who decide to leave everything behind than on the fears and prejudices of those who have to welcome them along their journey.

The official section of the festival has fewer films, but has plenty of ambition and artistic and thematic interest. The five selected films are among the most stimulating and daring proposals of recent cinema, and all offer a bold and profound vision of contemporary reality, always from complex and diverse perspectives. The selected films are Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile], by Radu Jude; Obscure Night - Goodbye Here, Anywhere [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sylvain George
film profile], by Sylvain George; Malqueridas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tana Gilbert
film profile], by Tana Gilbert; La Palisiada [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Sotnychenko
film profile], by Philip Sotnychenko and the Brazilian A Invenção do Outro (The Invention of the Other), by Bruno Jorge. With the exception of Sotnychenko, all the directors of the films in the official section will be in Lanzarote to introduce their films to the public.

The programme is completed with the Honorary Award to the International School of Film and TV of San Antonio de los Baños, a prestigious Cuban institution founded in 1986 by a group of people including Gabriel García Márquez. Also, the Cruce de Caminos section will screen five short films made by filmmakers from the Canary Islands. The selected titles are Árbol que (me) mira, by David San Ginés; Profit Motive and the Endless Sea, by Bruno Atkinson; Todo el mundo habla de Javier, by Fátima Luzardo; Las invasiones biológicas. El caso del ovis orientalis musimon en la isla de Tenerife: el último muflón, by Omar Al Abdul Razzak and Shira Ukrainitz; and Bloom by Helena Girón and Samuel M Delgado.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)