A summer of cinema in the heart of the Pyrenees
The 17th edition of the Cerdanya Film Festival, which runs from July 29 to August 17, consolidates its growth with 250 screenings, cultural activities, and professional meetings
GironaFor more than 15 days, cinema floods the facilities and theaters of the Cerdanya Pyrenees towns, thanks to the 17th Cerdanya Film Festival, which kicked off on July 29 and for the first time extends until the end of August. With 250 screenings and activities spread across Puigcerdà, Prullans, Montellà i Martinet, Alp, and Bolvir, the festival reinforces its role as a major cross-border meeting point for the audiovisual sector and consolidates a formula that combines highly interesting screenings, open to the public, with workshops and meetings for professionals.
In total, this year's edition offers 196 short films and 54 feature films and documentaries, selected from over 3,500 submitted works. Of these, 50 are premieres (mostly short films) and a dozen previews, with a selection that brings together some of the most outstanding Catalan and Spanish titles of the year with European productions that are difficult to access in the Spanish market.
From 'Balandrau' to the latest works by Aina Clotet, Carlos Marqués-Marcet, or Emma Vilarasau
Until the end of August, the residents of the region, who during the year have few opportunities to access the latest cinematic releases of the season, can see Balandrau, by Fernando Trullols; A gun, a band and a panda bear, by Oriol Cardús; Manual for superheroes: the red mask, by Anoo Bhagavan and Patrik Forsberg, or The last viking, by Anders Thomas Jensen. The programming also includes Viva, by Aina Clotet; The island of Amrum, by Fatih Akin; Three goodbyes, by Isabel Coixet; Every day a smart person is born, by Arantxa Echevarría; A tree is a tree, by Carlos Marqués-Marcet and Aleix Plademunt, or Journey to the land of the whites, by Dani Sancho, starring Emma Vilarasau, who will close the festival on August 15th with the reading of the awards. In total, the Cerdanya Film Festival, a collaborator of the Goya awards, distributes 11,000 euros among the main awards and 30,000 euros among the entire official selection in competition. This year the festival reinforces its professional and cultural aspect. The industry days will last for the first five days in Prullans, incorporating a new pitch of literary adaptations to audiovisual and various round tables on production, mountain shootings, the transition from theater to cinema, and intimacy coordination. In these days of networking for directors, producers, and technical staff, creation labs, scholarship programs are also offered, and a selection of short films competing for next year's Goyas is projected. “We have built and consolidated a professional and relevant project for the audiovisual sector for Cerdanya, the Pyrenees, and the Cross-border Region, of great cultural, artistic, industrial, and tourist interest, for all audiences: for businesses, for audiovisual professionals, for young talents, and for everyone,” explains the CFF director, Jordi Forcada.
The festival, therefore, is growing, and it does so with the aim of keeping cinema alive in Puigcerdà after the closure and demolition of the mythical Cinema Avinguda 3 years ago. In the region's capital, screenings are now held at the Casino Ceretà with a latest-generation Christie laser projector, unique in the entire Pyrenees, accompanied by a Dolby sound server that offers a technical level comparable to that of top festivals like San Sebastián.
