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Inside the Catalan filmfactory, the ESCAC

Anna Pacheco

EVA has been one of the last hits of Spanish cinema. The success achieved by the science fiction picture has earned Catalan director Kike Maïllo five Gaudí Catalan cinema Awards, 3 Goya at the Spanish Film Awards and recognition at the prestigious Sitges and Venice film festivals. The success of EVA is not solely down to its director, but also to the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC), one of the most important film academies in the world.

Barcelona International Short Film Festival ‘Mecal’ becomes a ‘not-to-be-missed’ festival

CNA / Pere Francesch / Laura Quintana

Over 300 short films from more than 35 countries in 12 days. This is the summary of the 14th edition of Mecal, the Barcelona International Short Film Festival, which takes place in the capital of Catalonia until April 29th. In this 2012 edition more than 4,500 short films have been received, 1,000 more than the last edition (about 30% more than 2011). With these figures, Mecal becomes the most important festival of its kind in Spain according to the number of film entries. Mecal’s Director, Roberto Barrueco, explained that the festival’s objective is to show the best of work from Catalonia and across the globe.

Ángel Corella: “Barcelona Ballet will represent the city and the name of Catalonia worldwide”

Pep Botey

CNA interviewed Ángel Corella, perhaps the best known face of ballet in Spain. Corella’s company is now established in the Catalan capital with a new name: ‘Barcelona Ballet’. Furthermore, Corella will manage a new international dancing school and residence in Figueres, a town in northern Catalonia. The school will train young talents aged between 11 and 18, aiming to feed the ‘Barcelona Ballet’ company. In an exclusive interview, Corella explains the reasons behind his recent moves and gives us the low-down on the situation of the dance industry in our country.

The 23rd Barcelona Guitar Festival increases its offer with two new venues

CNA / Anna Pacheco

The City Hall and The Coliseum Theatre are the new locations of the Guitar Festival, which will play host to popular bands such as Els Amics de les Arts, Jorge Drexler and the Waterboys. The Festival is taking place from March 10th to May 26th and is including all kind of guitar focused proposals. This Guitar Festival is considered to be one of the most important consolidated music events in Barcelona, with around 25.000 spectators per year. The budget for this 2012 has increased by 3.5% and will include new improvements and musical offers.

South Korean pianist Soo Jung Ann wins the International Music Competition Maria Canals of Barcelona

CNA

The 58th edition of the prestigious international piano competition awarded the jury’s first prize to Soo Jung Ann, who is 25 years old. The Japanese interpreter Nozomi Nakagiri and Ukraine’s pianist Vadym Kholodenko won the second and third prizes. Nakagiri also received audience’s prize. The competition ran from March 9th to March 21st, and the final was held at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana. 89 artists of 23 different nationalities participated in this year’s edition. More than 100 Catalan families offered their grand pianos for the occasion.

Goya highlights on show in Barcelona exhibition

CNA

‘The Clothed Maja’, ‘the Quitasol’, ‘the Puppet’ or the ‘Witches Flight’ are some of the canvases included in the largest retrospective exhibition on Goya organised in Barcelona in the last 35 years. Held at the Catalan capital’s CaixaForum, the exhibition ‘Goya. Lights and Shadows’ is organised by the social work foundation of the Catalan bank La Caixa and the Prado Museum. 96 pieces of the Aragon master’s work, including oil paintings, drawings and picture cards, will be on display for free until May 24th.

A community art centre built around Barcelona’s Roman wall with thermae from the 1st century

CNA / Anna Veciana

Catalonia’s capital discovers the new Pati Llimona community and art centre, after two years of renovation and enlargement works. The centre shows 17 metres of the Roman wall circling the old Barcino, which are integrated in the building. It also displays the wall’s gate facing the sea. Excavations have also unveiled thermae from the 1st century AC, which are on display together with other remains. The new Pati Llimona will focus its cultural activity mainly on photography.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols to host temporary exhibitions from the Thyssen-Bornemisza until the museum is built

CNA / Tània Tàpia / Marina Vicens

Every year, two temporary exhibitions from the Thyssen collection will be organised in the Catalan coastal town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, in the Costa Brava, until the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Center for Catalan Painting is built. The first exhibition will be at the Abbot’s Palace, where 60 works will be exhibited in May, combining a selection of Catalan painters and international artists from the 19th and 20th century.

Read the latest updates and breaking news on culture and cultural topics from Barcelona and Catalonia. Keep up to date with the city’s museums dedicated to some of the biggest artists in the world such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Antoni Tàpies, as well as other institutions such as the National Art Museum (MNAC), the Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona (MACBA), and exhibition spaces like the Contemporary Culture Center of Barcelona (CCCB), CiaxaForum, and CosmoCaixa.