For a showcase like the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote (running from 20-30 November) to reach adolescence while keeping its identity intact is only possible thanks to a team that is fully committed to the event. Said team is led by Javier Fuentes Feo, with whom we had the following conversation.

Cineuropa: You organise activities even before the Muestra officially kicks off.
Javier Fuentes Feo: Yes, we’ve already held the Presidencies Meeting with older people, screenings in different municipalities across the island that have been more successful than in previous years, five talks and a panel discussion.

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It’s a festival that stretches beyond the official ten days.
The idea of staging a macro-event on a micro-island doesn’t fit. It’s nicer to prepare the lead-up activities in the towns, with proper outreach. For instance, watching Utama [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alejandro Loayza
fiche film] with 70 people who stay for the discussion is cultural work that’s hugely rewarding.

This year, the Muestra turns 15. Is it a docile or a rebellious teenager?
It’s a wonderful teenager, thanks to its bond with the social context. Plus, bringing back older films and discussing the future of the island’s water is both beautiful and complex. Behind it is a non-profit cultural association called Tenique Cultural; here, we, the association’s board of directors, take responsibility, which entails an enormous degree of care and a strong cultural vocation. We prepared everything in nine weeks.

What’s the secret to your success?
The real secret is cultural activism, the absolute conviction that culture is necessary. Here, we do very different things, like walks and excursions, which entail insurance and permits, phone calls and paperwork. We’re the highest-rated festival in the Canarian Institue of Cultural Development’s grant programme, but it always seems like the best things happen on Tenerife or Las Palmas, so it’s also important to make it known that in so-called peripheral places, things are happening, too. That’s why we promote it in independent cinemas, on buses and on the Madrid Metro.

Water is the central theme of this edition.
The films we’re screening tackle issues of the contemporary world: water scarcity, pollution and drought – fundamental matters today – from Jordan to Mexico to Turkey. We’re interested in the real problem and in how cinema looks at it, analyses it and proposes solutions. Here in Lanzarote, the pressing problems are overtourism and water scarcity.

Is there anything else you’d highlight in the line-up?
I’m interested in the local-global connection, and the role of cinema as something that connects with local people in terms of their history and uniqueness. We’re not a festival with a specific theme; we understand that cinema addresses myriad, varied subjects, and it’s important to connect them to reality. I also like to boast about our open jury. In fact, critic and programmer Roger Koza asked us for the rules and has incorporated it into his festival in Argentina.

Also, this year you’re giving an honorary award to a French cinema.
Yes, to the Eden Theatre in La Ciotat, which screened films by the Lumière brothers and which is the oldest cinema still operating in the world. We have already honoured the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma and the San Antonio de los Baños Film School, seeking out low-profile recipients, because without them, cinema would not have existed, as was the case with dark rooms until television arrived. They are spaces, agents and institutions that have helped make cinema what it is.

I love the fact that the Muestra, after a quarter packed with festivals in Spain, is a calm event with room for debate, without the stress generated by other gatherings that are overloaded with content.
I’m glad you say that. One day, I was with a friend who was presenting a film at a very important festival: it was his first movie after four years of work, and he went there full of hope. When he came back, he was depressed because he had been one of 300 filmmakers there, and his film didn’t matter much. Years ago, I ran a project called Fisuras Fílmicas where we had two days to analyse each film. The Muestra is intended to be a cultural, collective experience, with debates that last at least 45 minutes.

Which guests will be at the Muestra this year?
The Russian director of The Shards [+lire aussi :
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interview : Masha Chernaya
fiche film], Masha Chernaya; the helmer of Conference of the Birds [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], Amin Motallebzadeh; Eszter Tompa, the actress in Radu Jude’s film Kontinental ‘25 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]; and Jerónimo Atehortúa Arteaga, producer and co-writer of the Colombian film Forensics.