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GIJÓN 2018

Yorgos Lanthimos to open the 56th Gijón Film Festival with The Favourite

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- The movie by the Greek filmmaker will fire the starting pistol for nine intense days of quality cinematic offerings in the beautiful Asturian coastal city, where a total of 180 films will be screened

Yorgos Lanthimos to open the 56th Gijón Film Festival with The Favourite
The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos

The Gijón International Film Festival (FICX) is about to turn 56 and is clearly in rude health, brimming with enthusiasm and eager to surprise audiences. The fact that a magnificent film such as The Favourite [+see also:
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]
, the latest opus by globally renowned Greek enfant terrible Yorgos Lanthimos, which scooped the Grand Jury Prize and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress (for Olivia Colman) at the most recent Venice Film Festival, will open proceedings on Friday 16 November is the perfect declaration of the festival’s principles and gives a clear idea of which direction this year’s programme is headed in: investing in audacity, modernity and creative freedom.

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At the opening gala, which will take place in the imposing Jovellanos Theatre in the Asturian city, the Nacho Martínez Award will be handed out to great Andalusian actor Juan Diego and the Honorary Award to directorial duo Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel (the brains behind films such as Mister Universo [+see also:
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). By the time FICX 2018 draws to a close on 24 November, audiences will have enjoyed a total of 180 titles, including short, medium-length and feature films, and encompassing everything from documentary to fiction and animation.

Directed for the second year running by Alejandro Díaz Castaño, FICX’s official section will be weighed up by a jury comprising filmmaker Caroline Deruas (who garnered much acclaim with Daydreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Deruas
film profile
]
), programmer Susana Santos, producer Felipe Lage (Mimosas [+see also:
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interview: Oliver Laxe
film profile
]
), actress Núria Prims (Uncertain Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustí Villaronga
film profile
]
) and the artistic director of the Buenos Aires Film Festival, Javier Porta Fouz.

They will have to deliberate and decide which are the best titles out of an alluring selection that includes Alice T. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Muntean
film profile
]
(Romania/Sweden/France), directed by Radu Muntean, which scooped the Best Actress Award (for Andra Guti) at the latest Locarno Film Festival; I Do Not Care if We Go Down in History as Barbarians [+see also:
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(Romania/Czech Republic/France/Bulgaria/Germany) by his fellow countryman Radu Jude, which pocketed the Best Film Award at this year’s Karlovy Vary; Cantares de una revolución [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
 (Spain) by Asturia’s own Ramon Lluís Bande (El nome de los árboles [+see also:
trailer
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]
), which boasts the involvement of musician Nacho Vegas; and The Prayer [+see also:
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interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile
]
(France/Belgium) by France’s Cédric Kahn, featuring an impressive performance by Anthony Bajon, who took home the Silver Bear for Best Actor from Berlin.

Other European titles in competition in the official section include Zaniki [+see also:
film review
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]
 by Spaniard Gabriel Velázquez (Ärctic [+see also:
film review
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making of
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), The Load [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ognjen Glavonić
film profile
]
by Serbia’s Ognjen GlavonicOne Day [+see also:
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interview: Zsófia Szilágyi
film profile
]
 by Hungary’s Zsófia SzilágyiMug [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska
film profile
]
by Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowska and To the Ends of the World [+see also:
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interview: Guillaume Nicloux
film profile
]
 by France’s Guillaume Nicloux. In addition, French maestro Paul Vecchiali, who presented Les Sept Déserteurs ou La guerre en vrac [+see also:
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]
at last year’s gathering, will screen his latest work, Train de vies ou les voyages d’Angélique [+see also:
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]
, out of competition.

More information and the complete programme of the various sections of the festival are available on FICX’s website.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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