catalan film

Catalan cinema will once again play a significant part in this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), with the presentation of two feature films and one short-film. The Catalan co-production Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), by Claudia Llosa, who also directed the 2009 Golden Bear winner The Milk of Sorrow, will compete in the official section of the festival, held between the 6^th and the 16^th of February. ‘El somni’ (The Dream) directed by Franc Aleu and centred on the creative dishes of the Roca brothers, universally acclaimed Catalan Chefs, will be screened during the ‘Culinary session’ of the festival. Finally, short-film lovers will discover ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom, and produced by the ‘Fura dels Baus’ a Barcelona theatrical group famous for its innovative performances.

The apocalyptic blockbuster Los Últimos Días (‘The Last Days’) and the intense quasi-documentary La Plaga (‘The Plague’) took home top honours at the Catalan film industry awards, which took place in Barcelona on Sunday evening. The decision by the workers from the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster not to air the ceremony was present throughout with many personalities from the world of cinema displaying their support for the protesters. The President of the Catalan Film Academy, Isona Passola, condemned this decision in her address. Contemporary drama Tots Volem el Millor per a Ella (‘Puzzlement’) was also recognised in the gala, picking up both Best Leading Actress for Nora Navas and Best Supporting Actress for Clara Segura, while big nominees Fill de Cain (‘Son of Cain’) and Grand Piano went home empty-handed.

Catalan Director Albert Serra’s latest film, Història de la meva mort (The story of my death), which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, is now screening in Barcelona cinemas. The Catalan Director has been praised internationally for his creativity and innovative style. In this film, Serra has reflected on the transition from rationalism to romanticism by focusing on two emblematic figures: Casanova and Dracula. Serra has linked two different imaginaries: first addressing the rationalism of the eighteenth-century, embodied by a “sensual” Casanova, “communication and command, which will succumb to the world of romance where everything is metaphysical, esoteric and violent”. Dracula will epitomise nineteenth-century romanticism.

The 46^th edition of the International Festival of Fantastic Film of Catalonia ended on 20^th of October in Sitges (Greater Barcelona) on a very successful note. Ticket sales and public interest reached new highs while supernatural thriller Borgman was awarded ‘Best Film’. Fan favourite Charles Dance received ‘Time Machine Award’, Israeli directors Aharon and Navot Papushado Keshales won ‘Best Director’ and British actress Juno Temple and Chinese actor Andy Lau were also distinguished.

The 16th edition of the DocsBarcelona festival increased audience figures by 40% compared to 2012. The festival organisation thinks that one of the reasons for such an increase is the fact that they have moved the event from winter to spring. Furthermore, the improvement in the festival’s communication and image management as well as the higher number of movies shown and sessions held could also be behind the positive 2013 figures. Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Act of Killing’ received the best movie award for its work picturing Anwar Congo’s death squads in Indonesia. Catalan Eva Vila’s ‘Bajarí’ received the jury’s special mention.

The President of the Parisian centre, Alain Seban, compared Albert Serra’s work to that of Salvador Dalí, who he said was “another brilliant Catalan”. The Pompidou Centre will show Serra’s films, including his most recent one: ‘The three little pigs’ (2012), which is an experiment on Goethe, Hitler and Fassbinder and lasts 101 hours. ‘Honor de cavalleria’ (‘Knighthood honour’ in English, from 2006) and ‘El cant dels ocells’ (‘Song of the birds’, from 2008) will also be shown. The exhibition will run in the French capital from the 17th of April to the 12th of May. In addition, the Parisian museum will organise debates, such as the one on bullfighting with Serra and the painter Miquel Barceló.

The 63rd International Film Festival in Berlin is taking place at the moment through to the 17th of February. This year a film made by Catalan production company El Kinògraf is on show: ‘La Plaga’ (‘The Plague’ in English), a film shot by Neus Ballús, had its world premiere in Berlin. It is a combination of reality and fiction, presenting five different characters living around Barcelona at the time of the economic crisis. Ballús explains that the film is based on true life stories, real emotions, situations and genuine characters.

The Catalan ‘Gaudi’ Film Awards had a true international feel this year as ‘The Imposible’, directed by Barcelona-born moviemaker Juan Antonio Bayona, came out on top. Starring Ewan McGregor and Oscar-nominated Naomi Watts, the film won the six awards for which it was nominated, including Best Director and Best European Film. The Catalan-Spanish production ‘Blancanieves’, directed by Pablo Berger, was voted Best Catalan Film. Àlex Monner – famous for his ‘Red Band Society’ part – was recognised as Best Actor for the film ‘Els nens salvatges’ and Maria Molins won Best Actress for ‘El Bosc’.

‘Blancanieves’ with 12 nominations and ‘El Bosc’ with 11 are leading the race at this year’s Gaudí awards ceremony. They are followed by ‘Els nens salvatges’ and ‘Fènix 11-23’, who are also candidates for the Best Film in Catalan. The Premis Gaudí are organised by the Catalan Cinema Academy and they recognise Catalan productions or movies with a significant presence of Catalan artistic and technical staff. They also award a prize for European productions. Out of the 89 films in the competition, 30 have received one or several nominations, becoming candidates to receive one of the 22 awards. ‘The Impossible’, ‘In The House’, ‘Le Havre’ and ‘The Intouchables’ are candidates for the Best European Movie.

With the short movie ‘La Culpa’ (The Guilt), the Catalan filmmaker David Victori has won Youtube’s ‘Your Film Festival’ competition, beating 15,000 other candidates. The award consists of a $500,000 audiovisual project which the winner will direct with the assistance of Ridley Scott as the Producer. Furthermore, the actor Michael Fassbender (Shame, Hunger, Inglorious Basterds, Jane Eyre and 300) will play the main character. The project will consist of a science-fiction mini-series with four or five chapters, which will be broadcast on Youtube.

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.

‘La boda de la Rita: història d’una família iraquiana II’ ('Rita`s wedding: The story of an Iraqi family II') is the second part of ‘El viaje de Mazin’ (‘Mazin’s trip’), a unique Catalan documentary made in Iraq. The plot of the documentary talks about three Iraqis, members of the same family, who came to Barcelona in different moments.

‘Eva’, by Catalan director Kike Maíllo and casting German-Catalan actor Daniel Brühl, is the hot favourite after receiving 16 nominations. The Gaudí Awards gather directors, actors, producers and other leading names from the filmmaking world from Catalonia, Spain and worldwide. A total of 29 productions have been nominated, within 22 categories.

Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’ produced by the Catalan company Mediapro and the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster, has been nominated for Best Movie, Best Director, Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Script and has already won a Golden Globe. The film ‘Chico y Rita’ has been nominated Best Animated Feature. The movie was developed in the Catalan capital by Barcelona-based Javier Mariscal. However, the Catalan film ‘Pa Negre' has not been nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

‘Pa Negre’ (‘Black Bread’) and its nomination to represent Spain at the 2012 Oscars reflects the desire of Catalan productions to shine with their own light, without losing their identity nor language along the way. Catalan cinema has reached a new stage in its history. Powered by a generation of young directors and a renewal of themes, Catalonia’s film industry wants to expand its borders and become part of the international cinema market.