Tomorrow will see Pascal Bonitzer’s Hugo (toplined by Fabrice Luchini) opening the 38th Angers European First Film Festival (running 17 to 25 January), an event which has helped shine a light, since its early days, on scores of young talent from the Old Continent, many of whom have since confirmed their potential within the highest ranks of European arthouse cinema.

The 10 feature films battling it out in this year’s international competition will be pored over by a jury led by director Thomas Cailley who’ll be supported by Laura Wandel, India Hair and Antoine Reinartz. These movies notably include Sundays [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
ficha de la película] by Spain’s Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (triumphant in San Sebastián), What Marielle Knows [+lee también:
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entrevista: Frédéric Hambalek
ficha de la película] by Germany’s Frédéric Hambalek (unveiled in competition in Berlin), Wild Foxes [+lee también:
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entrevista: Valéry Carnoy
ficha de la película] by Belgium’s Valéry Carnoy (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label and crowned the SACD’s Film Crush in the Directors’ Fortnight) and Pillion [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by British director Harry Lighton (awarded Best Screenplay in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section).

Likewise in on the action are Silent Rebellion [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
ficha de la película] by Switzerland’s Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (presented in Venice’s Spotlight line-up), Deaf [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eva Libertad
ficha de la película] by Spain’s Eva Libertad (the winner of the Audience Award in Berlin’s Panorama section), the Italian-Moroccan-American animation Bouchra [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Orian Yani Barki and Meriem Bennani (discovered in Toronto’s Platform line-up), The Last One for the Road [+lee también:
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entrevista: Francesco Sossai
ficha de la película] by Italy’s Francesco Sossai (unveiled in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section), The Son and the Sea [+lee también:
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entrevista: Stroma Cairns e Imogen West
ficha de la película] by British director Stroma Cairns (discovered in Toronto and also screened in San Sebastian’s New Directors showcase) and A Light that Never Goes Out by Finland’s Lauri-Matti Parppei (selected in Cannes’ ACID line-up).

The competitive Diagonale section, revolving around especially audacious works, notably includes the feature films Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes [+lee también:
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entrevista: Gabriel Azorín
ficha de la película] by Spain’s Gabriel Azorín (discovered in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up), Before/After [+lee también:
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entrevista: Manoël Dupont
ficha de la película] by Belgium’s Manoël Dupont (screened in Karlovy Vary’s Proxima competition), the documentary Autostop by Switzerland’s Roman Hüben, and the animated movie Dandelion’s Odyssey [+lee también:
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entrevista: Momoko Seto
ficha de la película] by Japan’s Momoko Seto (unveiled in Cannes’ Critics’ Week and triumphant in Annecy).

Stealing focus among the various premieres on the festival agenda are La maison des femmes by Mélisa Godet, Silent Friend [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ildikó Enyedi
ficha de la película] by Hungary’s Ildikó Enyedi, Grand ciel [+lee también:
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entrevista: Akihiro Hata
ficha de la película] by Hakihiro Hata, the animated movie Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake [+lee también:
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entrevista: Irene Iborra
ficha de la película] by Spain’s Irene Iborra Rizo, Couture [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alice Winocour y Louis Gar…
ficha de la película] by Alice Winocour, The Testament of Ann Lee [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Norway’s Mona Fastvold, Urchin [+lee también:
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entrevista: Harris Dickinson
ficha de la película] by British director Harris Dickinson, Le Gâteau du président by Iraq’s Hasan Hadi (set to close the festival), and three documentaries, namely IN-I in Motion by Juliette Binoche, The Return of the Projectionist [+lee también:
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entrevista: Orkhan Aghazadeh
ficha de la película] by Azerbaijan’s Orkhan Aghazadeh and Life After Siham by Egyptian-born French director Namir Abdel Meseeh.

The line-up also includes, among other events, focus sessions and retrospectives (dedicated to actresses Karin Viard and Laetitia Dosch, who’ll also be meeting with the public, German filmmaker Werner Hertzog, the city of Naples in film, and courtroom dramas), short film competitions (with Iris Kaltenbäck heading up the jury), the Angers Workshops, and the usual screenplay readings (primarily for the feature films Chien noir by Nyima Cartier, Une de perdue, une de perdue by Mathilde Elu and Tu feras tomber les rois by Maïté Sonnet).