The Lanzarote International Film Festival (FICL) closed its twenty-first edition this Saturday with a closing gala in which the awards were announced and presented to the winners in the five official categories in competition: International Fiction Short Films, National Fiction Short Films, Animated Short Films, Documentary Short Films and Canary Short Films.
The Lanzarote actor and comedian Nacho Peña was in charge of acting as master of ceremonies on a night that was full of humor, dance and, above all, cinema, a lot of cinema. And the seventh art was the great protagonist of an event that concluded ten days of activities and screenings, and in which the public and the so-called short stories, the short films, have been the absolute protagonists.
The gala kicked off with the thrilling dance number starring Xtreme Upo Dance Studio, a company founded in 2018 by Lanzarote dancer and choreographer Hacomar Arrocha. The vivacity, rhythm and spectacularity of urban dances invaded the black box of the Víctor Fernández Gopar Theater “El Salinero”.
The organization wanted to highlight that both the presenter and all the people who participated in the gala – including dancers, the jury and the authorities present – had to present a negative antigen test to be able to go on stage, as well as deliver and collect the awards and take photos without a mask.
After the dance piece, Ismael “Pampa” Curbelo, director of the FICL, was the next to speak. Curbelo had some emotional words about the healing power of telling stories. “Once I heard on the radio a news story about a tribe that believed that the misfortunes that happened to them were because something bad had happened to someone and they hadn't told it. So, everyone gathered around the fire and had to tell what worried them. After this bad year that we have all gone through, I think that the fact that there are so many people worried about making the effort to continue telling stories, and that there are so many people interested in knowing them, in visualizing them, is a fact that gives hope. And that is what we need most right now,” Pampa concluded.
Later it was the turn of the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, whose first words were of gratitude. “Gratitude for the trust, patience and effort with which the world of culture has endured the eternal and long months of restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic. And no, it was not because culture did not matter, but because culture means sharing. Now we are in a position to recover those moments and it is now when we have to make the greatest effort to demonstrate our commitment to culture,” said the president of the Island Council.
María Dolores Corujo concluded by thanking the entire organization of the Festival, the collaborating institutions and companies, and also congratulating the winners.
“Scars”, Best Documentary Short
The awards ceremony began with the Best Documentary Short category, which went to “Scars” (Canada), a poetic 10-minute piece directed by Alex Anna in which live action and animation are fused, and in which the author tells us an autobiographical story through her scars, which come to life.
The jury of documentary shorts, made up of Gustavo Salmerón, Dariam Coco and Alberto Durán, praised the originality of the piece and its ability to sensitively transmit a hard story about overcoming past traumas.
Alex Anna herself, who could not attend the gala, thanked her in a video that was shown in the room before viewing her short.
“Roberto”, Best Animated Short
The Spanish Carmen Córdoba won the award for Best Animated Short for “Roberto” (Spain), a beautiful love story in which our protagonist devises a plan to get closer to his neighbor, with whom he has been in love for more than 15 years, and who hides self-conscious about her overweight. As the only means of communication, the clothesline that unites them.
The jury of the Animation section, made up of Rufina Santana, Álex Zacharías and Germán Barrios, was full of praise for “Roberto”. They stated that there was unanimity that it was the best animated short in the official section, both for its script and for its staging.
Raúl Aguilar, responsible for the layout of “Roberto”, collected the award, who thanked the jury, the public and the organization.
“Novelera”, Best Canary Short
Carlos Santos, Nadia de Santiago and Daniel Jordán were responsible for evaluating the Canary short films and, therefore, those in charge of explaining to the public present why “Novelera” (Spain), by Willy Suárez, won the first prize in this category. They agreed that there was unanimity in choosing “Novelera” as the winner for its humor and its characters. “Novelera” is a very funny story in which the neighborhood gossip is involved in a kidnapping case together with the water delivery man.
Willy Suárez went up to collect the award and said he was very excited about it, thanking the jury and the FICL organization.
“Su rider”, Best National Fiction Short
The award for Best National Fiction Short went to “Su rider” (Spain), a title directed by Alberto Utrera that tells the story of Abril, a girl who orders food for home and, when the delivery man arrives, he is not as she imagined. As is also the story that she is about to live.
María Pujalte, Roberto Casañas and Usoa Ibarra, members of the National Shorts jury, also agreed in pointing out that, despite the high level of the entire section, there was unanimity when awarding “Su rider” the first prize. Carlos Soria, screenwriter of the short, went on stage to collect the award.
“Feeling Though”, Best International Fiction Short
Tereek is a teenager who wanders the streets of New York when he meets Artie, a deafblind man who needs help getting home.
This is the argument of “Feeling Through” (Doug Rolan, USA), which has led him to be nominated for the Oscars and to win the award for Best International Short of this 21st FICL.
The jury of the International Shorts section, made up of Imanol Uribe, Kimberly Tell and Christophe “Gazz” Gaziello, explained the reasons why “Feeling Throught” won the highest award. The characters, the script, the direction and the setting of the winning short were the aspects most valued by the committee.
Doug Rolan, who came from the USA, went on stage before the screening of the short to thank the jury, the public and the FICL organization.
In 2022... more
In this way, the FICL closed its 2021 edition, with a “more than satisfactory” balance, in the words of Alberto Aguiar, Minister of Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, who announced that, “if all goes well”, the FICl will return in 2022 in person and will do so again on its usual dates, between April and May.