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SEVILLE 2018

The 15th Seville European Film Festival: bigger and better

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- Just a few weeks before it hosts the European Film Awards ceremony, the Andalusian city will offer one of the most ambitious editions of its festival yet

The 15th Seville European Film Festival: bigger and better
The Hidden City by Víctor Moreno

Between 9 and 17 November, Seville will play host to the 15th edition of its European Film Festival, headed up once again by José Luis Cienfuegos. What’s more, on this occasion it will do so with particular enthusiasm, vigour and excitement, as barely one month later, on 15 December, the very same Andalusian city will get dressed up to the nines to host the awards ceremony for the 31st edition of the prizes handed out by the European Film Academy (the nominations for which will be revealed on 10 November at this very festival). Therefore, this year’s gathering will be particularly special, with a wide variety of screenings, activities and meetings that will push the schedules to breaking point.

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Cienfuegos pointed out, “This edition is more radical and political than ever – so much so that many European filmmakers want to make the journey to Seville with their movies, as it’s a place where we expect participation, debate and discussion.” A total of 200 films – 35 of which will be world premieres – make up the more than 400 screenings on the festival’s programme. The event will welcome, among countless others, filmmakers of the likes of Roy Andersson, Ildikó Enyedi and Ula Stöckl, who will receive some well-deserved tributes and retrospectives.

Spanish cinema will enjoy a major presence in the programme of the Seville Film Festival: actor Alberto San Juan will premiere his first directorial effort, El Rey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a movie about the theatrical work of the same name by the Teatro del Barrio cooperative in Madrid, starring Luis Bermejo and Willy Toledo, which was shot in a week and will form part of the new Endless Revolutions section; Xavier Artigas and Xapo Ortega (Ciutat morta) are back with another damnatory documentary, Idrissa, crónica de una muerte cualquiera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; and with The Hidden City [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Víctor Moreno
film profile
]
, Víctor Moreno depicts unexplored places after doing likewise in his previous movie, Edificio España.

León Siminiani will be bringing along Notes for a Heist Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: León Siminiani
film profile
]
together with Avalon (a distributor that will be screening up to six titles on its slate at the gathering), Isaki Lacuesta will be showing off his award-winning Between Two Waters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isaki Lacuesta
film profile
]
, José Luis Cuerda will present Some Time After [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, and the ever-rebellious María Cañas will show the medium-length film La cosa vuestra.

Another title that will be presented is Happy Sad [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, a drama by producer-director Ibon Cormenzana, starring Roberto Álamo, Andrés Gertrúdix and Maggie Civantos in the lead roles. Pablo Llorca is coming back to the event for the second year in a row (last year saw his Tenderness and the Third Person [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
win an award) with The Journey to Kyoto [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. María Antón is also returning to Seville, as she first attended as a member of the collective lacasinegra with Pas à Genève and will now be showing off her first solo film, <3 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Samuel Alarcón will be bringing along Goya’s Skull [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a documentary on the titular painter, and Hernán Zin will present Dying to Tell [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the winner of first prize in the Documentaries of the World official section of the Montreal World Film Festival, and of DOC España at the recent Seminci. Nacho Ruipérez (The Uncovering [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Albert Serra (Roi Soleil [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Marcos M Merino (In Memoriam, La derrota conviene olvidarla [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Alberto Gracia (Wandering Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Gracia
film profile
]
), Armand Rovira (Letters to Paul Morrissey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Armand Rovira
film profile
]
), Nicolás Pacheco (Cages [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Ilán Serruya (Reunión [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) will also be in attendance at Seville in ten days’ time.

Nor will there be any lack of prestigious European names, such as Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who will introduce his latest feature, The Wild Pear Tree [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
; France’s Christophe Honoré will bring along Sorry Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Christophe Honoré
film profile
]
, toplined by Vincent Lacoste and Pierre Deladonchamps; and Russia’s Aleksey German Jr will rock up brandishing Dovlatov [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milan Maric
film profile
]
. Yet more distinguished names that will be exhibiting their latest works at Seville include Olivier Assayas (who has been given the honour of opening the festival with Non-Fiction [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
), Mia Hansen-Løve (Maya [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile
]
), Laszlo Nemes (Sunset [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: László Nemes
film profile
]
) and Richard Billingham (Ray & Liz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Richard Billingham
film profile
]
), among myriad others.

More information, including a detailed programme, can be found on the festival’s website.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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