19/11/2024 - Works by authors such as Miguel Gomes, Roberto Minervini, Alberto Gracia, Elena López Riera, Adrián Orr, Anne-Marie Miéville and Radu Jude, among others, can be enjoyed at the event in Madrid

The 14th edition of the Márgenes Madrid International Film Festival dedicated to independent film, with special attention to new trends on the contemporary audiovisual scene, will be held from 22 to 30 November in Madrid. The official section includes twelve films of different lengths and formats from ten countries: provocative and innovative looks at human complexity and the tensions of our time, exploring geographical and emotional boundaries.

From Europe there is Grand Tour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile], by Portuguese film maker Miguel Gomes and Eat the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Poggi and Jonathan…
film profile] by the French team Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel. The other side of the pond, but in co-production with Europe, there is Pepe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nelson Carlo De Los Santos …
film profile] by Dominican Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias; The Damned [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the US-based Italian Roberto Minervini, and Something New, Something Old, Something Borrowed [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Argentinian Hernán Rosselli. From China comes Caught by the Tides, by Jia Zhangke; from the United States, Christmas Eve in Miller's Point, by Tyler Taormina; and Invention, by Courtney Stephens. The short films in this section are Ella se queda, by Mexican Marinthia Gutiérrez; Quebrante, by Brazilian Janaina Wagner; Time Sensitive Characters, by French Coralie Hina Gourdon; and Veterans, by Canadian Mike Hoolboom.

The Jury for this official section is composed of the actress Irene Escolar, the film maker Ainhoa Rodríguez (Mighty Flash [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ainhoa Rodríguez
film profile]) and the film critic and programmer Christopher Small. In addition, the writer Esther García Llovet, the film maker Chema García Ibarra (The Sacred Spirit [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Chema García Ibarra
film profile]) and writer/programmer Jesse Cumming will present the award for best film in the Escáner national competition.

The Escáner competitive section will host a selection of the most outstanding titles on the Spanish independent film scene: The Rim [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Alberto Gracia, which proposes a spectral journey to his native Ferrol; To Our Friends, an approach by Adrián Orr to the youth of a working-class neighbourhood; or Las novias del sur, a medium-length film (premièred at the Cannes Critics' Week) in which Elena López Riera listens to the testimonies of mature women about their relationship with sexuality. The film Small Invasion, a sordid first-person vertical portrait by Nacho Manresa and Miguel Ángel Blanca (world première), will also be screened, or Resistance Reels a political reflection on the work of filmmaker Fernando Ruiz Vergara by Concha Barquero and Alejandro Alvarado. The section is completed with short films by emerging independent voices: Los jóvenes andan, by Miguel Ariza; El príncep, by Àlex Sardá; En la noche caminamos solos, by Rafa Alberola; El cuento de una noche de verano, by María Herrera; and Els buits, from Sofia Esteve, Isa Luengo and Marina Freixa Roca; plus the film performance by Rosa Tharrats and Gabriel Ventura, El riu era verd i blau i groc.

Finally, this year's edition will dedicate its annual retrospective to the Swiss film maker Anne-Marie Miéville and a set of screenings to the German visual artist Hito Steyerl. Catalan film maker Albert Serra will also receive the Márgenes 2024 Special Award, an honorary award given by the festival in recognition of the free and innovative spirit of the award winners. Finally, Radu Jude from Romania will visit the festival to present his latest film, Eight Postcards from Utopia [+see also:
film review
interview: Radu Jude, Christian Ferenc…
film profile] co-directed with Christian Ferencz-Flatz and selected out of competition at last year's Locarno.

(Translated from Spanish by Alexandra Stephens)