Between 3 and 7 April, the Galician city of Tui (on the border with Portugal) is hosting the 15^th edition of Play-Doc, an international festival – headed up by Sara García and Ángel Sánchez – that has steadily been gaining prestige and strength over the years, and which, this time around, is presenting a truly irresistible programme, featuring a host of globally renowned names. For example, particularly notable among the sidebars at the gathering is one dedicated to US photographer and artist Bruce Weber, who will be showing off his latest documentary, Nice Girls Don’t Stay for Breakfast, revolving around the figure of legendary actor Robert Mitchum; at the same time, audiences will also be able to revisit his previous titles Let’s Get Lost, about the life of intriguing jazz musician Chet Baker, and his feature debut, Broken Noses. Tribute will also be paid to Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik and Germany’s Wolf-Eckart Bühler, who will be premiering his diptych about another legendary thesp, the Hollywood star, communist, partisan, war hero and FBI informant Sterling Hayden.

The titles set to go head to head in the gathering’s official section – which will be weighed up by a jury comprising Gerwin Tamsa, the head of the Bright Future section of International Film Festival Rotterdam; German critic, teacher and programmer Olaf Möller; and Garbiñe Ortega, artistic director of the Punto de Vista Festival in Navarre – include A Story from Africa (USA/Portugal) by Billy Woodberry, the Portuguese road movie Around the World When You Were My Age [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Aya Koretzky, the Spanish documentary Karelia: International with Monument [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Venezuelan director (based in Barcelona for many years) Andrés Duque, Humberto Mauro (Brazil), a tribute to the great filmmaker helmed by his great nephew André di Mauro, Introduzione all’oscuro [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gastón Solnicki
scheda film] (Argentina/Austria) by Gaston Solnicki and Nona. If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Chile’s Camila José Donoso.

A particular highlight of the fabulous programme is the Galicia Panorama section, which showcases the irrepressible talent of filmmakers from this particular region of Spain, with titles such as A Typical Morning by Arancha Brandon, Empalaos-Valverde de la Vera by Iria Sanjurjo, Gallo by Antonio Díaz Huerta, Hamada [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Eloy Domínguez Serén
scheda film] by Eloy Domínguez Serén, Ilha by Alexandre Cancelo, Lucía en la Noche by David Varela, Manoliño Nguema by Antonio Grunfeld, Rexistros, Xeografía de San Sadurniño by Adrián Canoura and What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Roberto Minervini
scheda film], a co-production between Italy, the USA and France, directed by Roberto Minervini and lensed by Galicia’s very own Diego Romero Suárez-Llanos (A esmorga [+leggi anche:
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Likewise, the North by Northwest section shines a spotlight on cinema from the north and north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, as evidenced by the works contained within it, including the Asturian title In Memorian (la derrota conviene olvidarla) [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alberto Gracia
scheda film] by Alberto Gracia and the Basque picture Stepping into the Boundary [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maider Oleaga.

A Film Criticism Seminar, organised in conjunction with A Cuarta Parede, focusing on video essays and led by Portuguese critic and programmer Ricardo Vieira Lisboa, and another seminar on the dialogue between film and photography are just some of the myriad activities – including plenty of concerts – being organised for the festival, the full programme of which can be consulted here.