12/05/2006

Leaving behind the concept of a purely academic event, the International Congress on Contemporary European Cinema – organised for the first time in 2005 by the University Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) – has evolved this year into a non-competitive festival. Running from June 1-9, the International Festival of Contemporary European Film (MICEC'06) will mix over 60 screenings with conferences and debates, bringing together filmmakers and industry experts, and opening itself to a wider – and not necessarily academic – audience.

Barcelona will become the centre of reflection on the current state of European cinema, tackling several old, unanswered issues – like the (non)existence of a common identity in European film – alongside other, more recent controversial questions related to the ties between TV and cinema, exhibition shares and the ambiguous line separating fiction and documentary in some European films. The conferences will be attended by, among others, US film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, former president of the French Film Museum Dominique Païni, French lecturer Nicole Brenez, and Spanish directors José Luís Guerín and Joaquim Jordà.

The MICEC'06 film programme includes the latest features by three European veterans: Magic Mirror by Manoel de Oliveira, The Comedy of Power [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Claude Chabrol and Solntse by Alexander Sokurov, as well as tributes to Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman and French producer/distributor Marin Karmitz.

The event will save some room as well for younger talents like Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa, whose latest film Juventude em marcha [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will compete for the Golden Palm in the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, Claire Denis, Arnaud Desplechin and French critic Thierry Jousse, who will introduce his latest feature, Les Invisibles.

The three venues hosting the film sessions will be the CCCB Auditorium, MACBA Auditorium and the Aribau Club.