The 63rd edition of the Gijón International Film Festival is hosting the eighth year of its FICX Pro industry sidebar under the Industry Days banner as a conference aimed at film sector professionals in co-production with the Asturias Paraíso Natural Film Commission. The FICXPro conference will take place from 18 to 22 November at the Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto (CCAI) and LABoral Ciudad de la Cultura with a focus on archive management, co-production between territories in the north of the peninsula, and the dissemination of short films.

For the third year in a row, Semilleru will host discussions about the nurturing and care of film projects and their creators and film professionals, organised by Divertia Gijón S.A. The project, whose main objective is to promote a diverse environment that respects the time of creation, offers two programmes, SEMILLERU Film Campus (SCampus) and SEMILLERU Lab (SLab) between 28 October and 23 November. SCampus will bring together 11 participants, four of whom are from Asturias and two of whom are students at partnering institutions CIFP Cislan, the Integrated Centre for Professional Training in Communication, Image and Sound in Langreo. Combining theoretical training with the development of audiovisual projects and creative workshops, SCampus has invited film professionals like Beli Martínez, Carla Subirana, Ion de Sosa, María Royo and Virginia G. del Pino.

The SEMILLERU Lab focuses on projects with a strong auteur character in line with the FICX programme, which is committed to new perspectives and ways of making films. In 2024, SLab presents a total of 10 projects in development and (post)production, which will be presented during the FICXPro industry conference. The first strand, SLab Modalidad | Development, brings together projects hailing from Asturias, Cantabria and Catalonia with historical roots and innovative uses of AI and more, while the second part, SLab Modalidad | (Post)production, combines fiction and non-fiction with different proposals ranging from dramedy to documentary projects that explore family memory, as well as more daring and experimental projects in 16mm and a combination of formats. 

SLab mentors include Paula Astorga, artistic director of the DocsLisboa International Documentary Film Festival; Weronika Czołnowska, producer and industry coordinator at New Horizons IFF; Marcello Paolillo, producer and coordinator of StepIn and U30 Project at Locarno Film Festival; Laure Bonville, programmer at BFI London Film Festival; and Abraham González, director of programming at FIC Monterrey.

The full list of projects participating in SLab below:

SLab Modalidad | Development

A las dos serán las tres (o la imposibilidad de hacer un documental sobre Doctor Explosion) - Manuel Romo (Spain)
Producer: David Huergo (Welding Support)

El desencanto - Marta Martín (Spain) (short film)
Producer: Carlos J. Mata (ESCAC Films, Persi Motion Pictures)

I’m in love with my Testo - Juno Álvarez (Spain) (short documentary essay film)
Producer: Nell Córdova (Cacao Cinema)

La Isla  - Ismael Sordo (Spain) (short film)
Producer: TBC

Lídia de Cadaqués  - Nur Casadevall  (Argentina)
Producer: Marta Cruañas and Xavi Vara (CANADA)

SLab Modalidad | (Post)production

Woman Bites Dog - Armand Rovira (Spain)
Producer: Jorge Vidal (From Outer Space)

Como Manolete en la víspera de su muerte - Álvaro Gómez (Spain)
Producer: TBC

Luna En Escorpio - Aizpea de Atxa and Maria Corriàs (Spain)
Producers: Aizpea de Atxa and Maria Corriàs

No Ghost Inside - Antonio Morales (Spain)
Producer: Jon Arróspide and Leonardo Morales Sosa (NADADORA FILMS)

ZORAvsKONG  - Paola Álvarez & Manuel Escorihuela (Spain)
Producer: Paola Álvarez (Filmproduktion)