The 15th Lanzarote Film Festival began last week with one of the most unique openings in its history: a tour between fields and dry stone walls in Teseguite, culminating in the historic cistern of Casa El Hacedor, one of the island's most emblematic heritage sites dedicated to water.
Far from red carpets, the event championed the deep connection between cinema, landscape, and memory, ushering in eleven days of programming that will fill the entire island with screenings, educational activities, meetings, and the presence of filmmakers from various continents
Water as a Symbolic Protagonist
The choice of the cistern —built around 1700 and lovingly restored by its owner— reinforced the central theme of this edition, water. For the organization, the Tenique Cultural association, the space embodies island memory: "its walls felt the years of drought and times of abundance... A deep memory of the entire island is reflected in its pillars and vaults," stated the director of the Exhibition, Javier Fuentes Feo.
From the esplanade of the Cabildo in Arrecife, attendees traveled by bus to the farm, where the traditional agricultural landscape evoked Lanzarote's historical relationship with the management of a vital and scarce resource.
Honorary Award for the World's Oldest Cinema
During the ceremony, the Festival presented its Honorary Award to the Eden-Théâtre, the oldest active cinema in the world, inaugurated in 1889 in La Ciotat (France) and the venue for the legendary first screenings by the Lumière brothers.For Tenique Cultural, this emblematic cinema represents "a symbol of continuity between the birth of the seventh art and its present." Its director, **Michel Cornille**, accepted the award: a special bottle from Bodega El Grifo, the oldest in Lanzarote.
A global edition with more than seventy activities
Between November 20 and 30, the Showcase will unfold its most international edition. More than thirty films make up the program, along with more than seventy activities spread across all municipalities: walks, workshops, conferences, courses, meetings with filmmakers, and educational sessions for audiences of all ages.
The Official Section brings together six films from Germany, Chile, Colombia, Palestine, Romania, and Russia. The aim is not to "select the best," explained Fuentes Feo, but rather to foster "a space where different world cinematographies dialogue with each other and, in doing so, illuminate the dilemmas that permeate our present."
Canarian shorts also return, as does the traditional open Jury, which will deliberate publicly.
Water, the focus of Trasfoco
The Trasfoco section will delve into the theme of the year—water—proposing connections between the local and the universal: a reflection on how water landscapes, their scarcity or abundance, shape identities and ways of life.
Institutional backing and commitment to culture
In the previous press conference, the Minister of Culture of the Cabildo, Jesús Machín Tavío, highlighted that this edition invites reflection on "one of the most precious and fragile assets of our land".
José Juan Lorenzo, managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, underlined the importance of integrating culture and tourism, with more than 883 events sponsored since 2021. For his part, Cristóbal de la Rosa, director general of Cultural Innovation and Creative Industries, stated that the Exhibition has become "a great example of passion for cinema and cultural development in the islands".
A Sample That Grows Without Losing Its Roots
With the support of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, the Centers of Art, Culture and Tourism, Tourism of the Canary Islands, the ICAA and the Government of the Canary Islands, the 15th Lanzarote Film Showcase once again becomes a meeting point for territories, perspectives, and memories. An edition that, from the depth of a historic cistern, once again reminds us that cinema, like water, is a source of shared life.
