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GIJÓN 2020

The Gijón Film Festival to offer an online programme this year

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- For the first time ever, the seasoned Asturian gathering will unspool via digital platforms, but will by no means be neglecting its innovative, daring, independent spirit

The Gijón Film Festival to offer an online programme this year
A l’abordage by Guillaume Brac

Every year, at the end of November, devoted Spanish festivalgoers head to Asturias, in the north of the country, where the magnificent Gijón Film Festival (FICX) has been held regularly for the last 58 years. However, in 2020, given the peculiar circumstances and the fact that travelling and on-site meetings are tricky and not advisable on account of the pandemic afflicting the entire world, this year’s edition has been transferred online and is set to unspool between 20 and 28 November. Via the FICX.TV channel, audiences will gain access to the Filmin (hosting the various different sections of its Official Selection – click here) and festhome (hosting the remaining strands of the gathering – click here) platforms, where viewers will not only be able to watch all of the movies on its programme, but also follow its myriad activities and events.

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And so, even though this may prevent us from coming together physically – as well as depriving us of the concerts and parties that are always thrown enthusiastically by Alejandro Díaz Castaño and his team – it will still enable audiences from other corners of the globe to discover the cinematic talent (among which we should highlight the presence of 30 Spanish titles, shorts and features included) lying in wait in its various different sections.

Let’s take a look at a few examples: the festival will be opened by the upbeat French production A l’abordage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Brac
film profile
]
by Guillaume Brac, and also getting an airing in the Albar Official Selection are Uppercase Print [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Romania’s Radu Jude, One of These Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bastian Günther
film profile
]
(Germany/USA) by Bastian Günther; Love Affair(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile
]
by Emmanuel Mouret (France), Isabella [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Argentina/France) by Matías PiñeiroNotes from the Underworld [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel
film profile
]
(Austria) by directorial duo – and friends of the festival – Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Voices in the Wind (Japan) by Nobuhiro Suwa and First Cow (USA) by Kelly Reichardt and. This strand is rounded off by two Spanish flicks: Subterranean [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Gabriel Velázquez and Manuel Matanza, and Cow Lowing Among Ruins by another regular at the festival, Asturian helmer Ramón Lluís Bande.

FICX 2020 – dedicated to the memory of a former member of the gathering’s team, Elena Figaredo, who passed away in March after contracting COVID-19 – has chosen a number of other Spanish movies for its Retueyos Official Selection, such as 9 fugas [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Fon Cortizo, Amor sin ciudad by Pedro Sara and Violeta Pagán, the Spanish-Cuban-Colombian co-production Between Dog and Wolf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Irene Gutiérrez
film profile
]
by Irene Gutiérrez, Transoceánicas (Spain/Argentina) by Meritxell Colell and Lucía Vassallo, and Tehran Blues [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by broadcast journalist Javier Tolentino, which will bring the event to a close, out of competition.

Meanwhile, in the Esbilla strand, we find the national productions Last Days of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Lamberti
film profile
]
(Spain/Netherlands), the award-winning debut by Isabel Lamberti; Lengua nativa by David Castro; Paco Loco: viva el Noise, a documentary by Daniel Cervantes; Tierra de leche y miel by Héctor Domínguez-Viguera, Carlos Mora and Gonzalo Recio; and Vicente García Riestra, guardián de memoria. Una historia de Buchenwald, a biographical feature about an Asturian Nazi concentration camp survivor, helmed by Alberto Vázquez García. Finally, La calle del agua by Celia Viada Caso is the Spanish representative in the Tierres en Trance Official Selection, which homes in on Latin American works.

The 58th edition of FICX is also offering a series of activities that will take place under the Aula FICX umbrella, encompassing round-tables, digital meetings, workshops, master classes and other events, which can be viewed – just like the features and shorts – from the festival’s website. Some of these functions are free for the public to participate in, thus helping to reduce the distance created by this online iteration of the gathering imposed by the current health-and-safety situation.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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