Starting today, 20 November, and unspooling for the next month in Madrilenian cinemas (and until 8 December via its website – with viewings of the films in its official section free of charge), the ninth edition of Márgenes is about to unfurl a programme that is tantalising and alternative in equal measure, offering movies that are not easily pigeonholed and that refuse to submit to the yoke of mainstream cinema. All we need do is mention, by way of example, one of its honourees, Portugal’s Paulo Rocha, because, as stated by festival director Diego Rodríguez, “We find ourselves in a time when the core of audiovisual production has been colonised by cloned, uniform products based on tastes that have been predetermined by algorithms. It’s precisely during this paradigm shift and, perhaps, during these changing times when the margins, the fringes, make more sense, and that’s where the most creative, authentic, suggestive and free-spirited films are born. There’s not just one single gaze, but rather multiple perspectives. And a lot of those can be found in Márgenes.”

Standing out in its official section, among a selection of Spanish and Latin American movies, are Spanish features such as De barrio by Xurxo Chirro, which has just been taking part in the Gijón and Mar del Plata Film Festivals; Andrómedas [+leggi anche:
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Another particularly interesting strand at the ninth Márgenes is the Escáner (“Scanner”) section, which will unspool in the Matadero Cineteca and will screen the crème de la crème of the recent and very varied crop of independent Spanish cinema, including the documentary Glittering Misfits [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], about the world of burlesque, directed by Iban del Campo; The Perseids [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Miguel Llansó
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intervista: Théo Court
scheda film] by Théo Court, a co-production with Chile shot on the Canary Islands and in Tierra del Fuego; Work, or to Whom Does the World Belong [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jaione Camborda
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intervista: Eloy Enciso
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Mention must also be made of the MRG//WORK sidebar, a project-development forum that, at its fifth edition, is once again putting independent Spanish and Latin American filmmakers in contact with sales agents, producers, programmers and other professionals who may be able to help to make their works a reality. This year, six projects have been selected: Muyeres (Spain) by Marta Lallana, who rose to fame as the (co-)director of Ojos Negros [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marta Lallana, Ivet Castelo
scheda film], and who is teaming up once again with musician Raül Refree; Miraba caer las gotas iluminadas por los relámpagos, y cada vez que respiraba suspiraba, y cada vez que pensaba, pensaba en ti (Mexico) by Pepe Gutiérrez, a blend of fiction and documentary that explores the ever-thorny issue of colonialism; Pepe, la imaginación en el tercer cine (Dominican Republic) by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, a ghost story set in the Colombian jungle; El cielo en la Tierra (Spain) by María Antón Cabot, which broaches human beings’ limits and those of the universe itself; Sobre las nubes (Argentina) by María Aparicio, featuring a rainy city and four protagonists who don’t know each other; and the documentary-cum-experimental noir essay En busca de…La ciudad perdida (Spain/Colombia) by the collective known as ¡Maldito cine!, which reclaims long-forgotten Spanish celluloid.

More information about Márgenes 2019, and all of its sections and activities, can be found here.