Yesterday, José Luis Cienfuegos, director for the second year of Seminci, Valladolid International Film Festival, which will be held from 18 to 26 October, presented at the Film Academy in Madrid the bulk of the programme for its 69th edition. This now completes that previously announced with an outstanding Spanish presence at the event (read more).

Major European filmmakers will compete for the Golden Spike, the highest award of the festival, which in its Official Section will feature the latest works by the French Olivier Assayas (Suspended Time [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alain Guiraudie
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interview : Marta Donzelli et Gregorio…
interview : Miguel Gomes
fiche film], winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival), the Greek Athina Rachel Tsangari (Harvest [+lire aussi :
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interview : Athina Rachel Tsangari
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interview : Maura Delpero
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In addition to these names, there are the eagerly awaited works by Norwegian Dag Johan Haugerud (Sex [+lire aussi :
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interview : Dag Johan Haugerud
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interview : Emanuel Pârvu
fiche film]), and the debut films by Norwegian Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Armand [+lire aussi :
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interview : Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview : Renate Reinsve
fiche film], Camera d'Or at Cannes), Greek Ariane Labed (September Says [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ariane Labed
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interview : Agathe Riedinger
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Completing the official competition section are other notable international directors, such as the Chinese Guan Hu (with Black Dog, best film in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes), the Iranians Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (with My Favourite Cake [+lire aussi :
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Out of competition, the French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius will present his animated feature The Most Precious of Cargoes [+lire aussi :
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interview : Michel Hazanavicius
fiche film] and special screenings will also include The Wailing [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pedro Martín-Calero et Isa…
fiche film], the debut film by the Spaniard Pedro Martín-Calero, a contender for the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. In addition, The New Years [+lire aussi :
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fiche série], a series directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, will have its Spanish premiere after its world premiere in Venice.

Meanwhile, the parallel section Meeting Point, described as an urgent cartography of contemporary cinema and our world, will screen striking European works such as Toxic [+lire aussi :
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interview : Directors Talks @ European…
interview : Saulė Bliuvaitė
fiche film] by Lithuanian Saulė Bliuvaitė (Golden Leopard at the recent Locarno International Film Festival), Moon [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kurdwin Ayub
fiche film] Austrian Kurdwin Ayub (Special Jury Prize at the same festival), Holy Cow [+lire aussi :
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interview : Louise Courvoisier
fiche film] by French director Louise Courvoisier (Youth Prize at Un Certain Regard in Cannes), Ghost Trail [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonathan Millet
interview : Pauline Seigland
fiche film] and In His Own Image [+lire aussi :
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interview : Thierry de Peretti
fiche film], by fellow French filmmakers Jonathan Millet and Thierry de Peretti respectively, Ivo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Eva Trobisch et Adrian Cam…
fiche film] and Scorched Earth [+lire aussi :
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interview : Thomas Arslan
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fiche film] by Vietnamese Trương Minh Quý.

Germany will be the guest country this year, with films from the New German Cinema (with works by Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but also by lesser-known but equally stimulating female directors such as Elfi Mikesch, Helma Sanders-Brahms and Sohrab Shahid Saless) and titles from the last twenty years such as Ghosts by Christian Petzold; Western [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jonas Dornbach
interview : Valeska Grisebach
interview : Valeska Grisebach
fiche film] by Valeska Grisebach and The Forest for the Trees by Maren Ade.

Finally, the fourth edition of the Independent Film Market (MERCI Valladolid), an initiative co-organised by the festival and the Association of Independent Film Distributors (ADICINE), made up of fifteen of Spain's leading distribution companies, will take place from 23 to 25 October. The initiative aims to promote independent and auteur films, bringing their titles to exhibitors, television channels and platforms in order to encourage the public to see these films, as well as enabling and promoting relations between distribution and exhibition professionals.