21/10/2024 - The 62nd edition of the Spanish film festival will screen works by Radu Jude, Bruno Dumont and Claire Simon, alongside those by emerging names with their first, second or third films

Gijón/Xixón International Film Festival (FICX) celebrates its 62nd edition from 15 to 23 November, screening a wide selection including 75 Spanish (co-)productions (feature films and short films), which reinforces its commitment to Spanish cinema.

One of its two main competitive sections the Official Albar Section, will feature French filmmakers Emmanuel Mouret, returning to the event for the third time with Three Friends [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]; Patricia Mazuy with Visiting Hours [+see also:
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interview: Patricia Mazuy
film profile]; brothers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu with Jim's Story [+see also:
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interview: Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu
film profile]; Boris Lojkine with The Story of Souleymane [+see also:
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interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile], winner of the Jury Prize and Best Actor at Un Certain Regard in Cannes; veteran Bruno Dumont with The Empire [+see also:
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interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile], which won him the Jury Prize at the Berlinale; and the great master Claire Simon with her new documentary Elementary [+see also:
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film profile]. Alongside them, German director Matthias Glasner competes with Dying [+see also:
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interview: Matthias Glasner
film profile], which won him the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlinale and several German Film Lola Awards; Iceland's Rúnar Rúnarsson (winner of the Golden Shell at San Sebastian in 2015 for Sparrows [+see also:
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interview: Atli Óskar Fjalarsson
interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
film profile]) competes with When the Light Breaks [+see also:
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interview: Rúnar Rúnarsson
film profile], with which he opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes; and Romania's Radu Jude competes with Eight Postcards from Utopia [+see also:
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interview: Radu Jude, Christian Ferenc…
film profile], which he made together with the philosopher Christian Ferencz-Flatz. The Spanish title in the section is Retaguardia, by Asturian director Ramón Lluís Bande. It presents the archaeology of a possibility, at the same time that on the screen this possibility, this potential, is transformed into cinema. And finally, from outside Europe comes the Argentinian Matías Piñeiro with You Burn Me [+see also:
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interview: Matías Piñeiro
film profile] (a co-production with Spain), the American Joel Potrykus with Vulcanizadora, and the South Korean Hong Sang-soo, very much loved by this festival (in whose official section he has triumphed on several occasions), who presents By the Stream, for which Kim Minhee won the Leopard for Best Performance at Locarno film festival this year.

The Retueyos Official Selection, which focuses on new creators, will include the European films Peaches Goes Bananas [+see also:
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interview: Marie Losier
film profile], the latest work by French director Marie Losier about the famous Canadian singer Peaches; January 2 [+see also:
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film profile], the second feature film by Hungarian director Zsófia Szilágyi; Fire of Wind [+see also:
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film profile] produced by Pedro Costa and directed by the Portuguese Marta Mateus, and the British contemplative documentary Mother Vera [+see also:
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film profile] by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson. They will be joined by a Spanish film, Luna, the second feature film by Pablo Casanueva from Asturias, which explores the memory of his family who were almost exterminated during the Civil War and Franco's regime. The section is completed by the European co-productions I Saw Three Black Lights [+see also:
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film profile] (Colombia/Mexico/Germany/France), the second full-length film by the Colombian Santiago Lozano Álvarez; Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed [+see also:
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film profile] (Argentina/Spain/Portugal), by the Argentinian Hernán Rosselli; El placer es mío (Argentina/Brazil/France), Argentinian Sacha Amaral’s debut and Grand Prize at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival BAFICI; along with the new film by Elizabeth Lo (who won the Best Film Award for Stray in this same section in 2020), Mistress Dispeller (China/USA); the Japanese film River Returns, the third feature by Masakazu Kaneko, in its world premiere, and the debut feature by Australian Jaydon Martin, Flathead. The medium-length film What Mary Didn't Know (Greece/France/Sweden), premiered at Locarno and directed by Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani, will be screened out of competition.

Finally, underground veteran Ado Arrieta and the young talent Celia Rico Clavellino (Journey to a Mother's Room [+see also:
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interview: Celia Rico Clavellino
film profile], Little Loves [+see also:
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interview: Albert Serra
film profile] (Golden Shell at San Sebastian), as part of the festival's special screenings. Also featured, among others, the latest works by Spaniards Pablo Hernando (A Whale [+see also:
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interview: Andrea Jaurrieta
film profile]), and the debut film by Enrique Buleo (Still Life with Ghosts [+see also:
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film profile]).

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)