“The 22nd edition of a clearly consolidated festival begins, which aspires to fly very high.” This was announced on Tuesday morning by the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo. In this edition there will be a total of 54 short films, in the four categories of Animation, Canarian, International Fiction and National Fiction and Documentaries.
The Lanzarote International Film Festival (FICL) - a co-production of the Culture area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Fisme Producciones - will begin this weekend with a tribute to the recently deceased filmmaker and screenwriter from Lanzarote, Roberto Pérez Toledo.
On Friday, June 17 at 9:00 p.m., his latest film, "Places We Have Never Been", will be screened at the Multicines Atlántida, which will be the premiere in the Canary Islands; and on Saturday, June 18, at 9:00 p.m., the CIC El Almacén will host a retrospective of his short films and a discussion with friends and part of the director's team. The journalist Borja Terán, the actors Edgar Córcoles and Carlos Soroa, and the producer Rafael Álvarez will be present.
For Roberto Pérez Toledo, “there was no status between long films or short films”, writes Borja Terán. “The crucial thing was to tell, to experiment,” he adds.
As of this year, the Corto Exprés Contest will bear the name of Roberto Pérez Toledo, a mediation carried out from the Education, Youth and Equality area of the Cabildo managed by Myriam Barros. "Lanzarote has a duty to pay tribute to a man who, despite all the difficulties, found a path to success and self-improvement, now being a reference for an entire generation and a source of pride for the island," says the councilor.
This Monday, the filming teams were formed who will have the challenge of recording a short film about diversity and integration in five days. The objective, according to the Cabildo, is "to encourage creativity and ingenuity, without the low budget being an impediment to telling a good story". On Sunday, June 19 at 7:00 p.m., the express short films will be screened and the awards will be presented at the Multicine Atlántida.
54 short films in competition
“Today is a special day for Lanzarote's cultural agenda,” said the Minister of Culture, Alberto Aguiar, this Tuesday, who recalled the five categories of the Official Competition Section of the FICL: Animation, Canarian, International Fiction, National Fiction and Documentaries; the latter two, qualifying for the Goya Awards granted annually by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences.
This year, the FICL will feature the presence of several filmmakers who will be in the room to present their short films to the public. Among the works that compete in the Official Section there are pieces by advertising creatives who work for the best agencies in the country, award-winning documentary filmmakers, recently graduated filmmakers, stop motion, satire, digital animation, fantasy, drama, comedy, etc. In addition, there will be casts with Belén Rueda, Luis Tosar, Daniel Guzmán, Nerea Barros, brilliant new actors, etc. "A whole kaleidoscope of themes, genres and techniques", they point out from the Corporation.
On Monday 20, Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23, the CIC El Almacén will host the screenings of short films of Animation, Documentaries, National Fiction and International Fiction with three daily screenings. While on Friday, June 24, at 6:30 p.m., the Teatro El Salinero will be the epicenter of Canarian cinema, with the screening of the seven short films that compete in this category. At 8:00 p.m. the public will be invited to attend the talk that will be given by the artistic and technical teams of the Canarian films.
The FICL Jury
The actor Iván Massagué (The Hole), the journalist Paola Delgado and the actress Silvia Romero will form the jury for the Canarian shorts, while the actor Ernesto Alterio, the actor Víctor Hubara and the editor Mayte Pozo will form the jury for the Animation shorts.
In addition, the art director Philippe Moyanobe (Welcome to Edén), the artist Ildefonso Aguilar and the actor Pepón Nieto will decide which work wins the award for Best International Short, while the actresses Yaneli Hernández and Alicia Borrachero, together with the actor José Pedro Carrión will assess the short films of National Fiction.
On the other hand, the filmmaker Isaki Lacuesta, the artist Macarena Nieves Cáceres and the actor Roberto Cabrera will judge the Documentary shorts.
On Friday, June 24 at 9:00 p.m. the Teatro El Salinero will host the traditional talk with the Jury, open to the public.
Finally, the FICL will say goodbye with a Closing Gala, on Saturday, June 25 at 8:30 p.m. in the Teatro El Salinero, presented by Nacho Peña (Nachizz on his social networks), which will feature the performance of the Marius John Band, the reading of the Awards, the screening of the five winning short films and the awards ceremony.
All screenings, with the exception of the short film retrospective, will be in Original Version with English/Spanish subtitles, and the Cabildo announces that tickets can now be purchased on the Festival website and at Ecoentradas.
Reaching the whole society
“Maintaining a festival for twenty-two years is not easy,” said the councilor of the Arrecife City Council, Jacobo Lemes, this Tuesday, the city where most of the FICL program is concentrated.
“We have firmly committed to bringing cinema to the largest number of audiences possible,” said the Festival director, Ismael Curbelo. For this reason, complementary activities will be carried out, such as the Seniors without Reservations section (cinema for the elderly at the Arrecife Civic Center on Wednesday the 17th at 11 a.m.), the Children's and Youth Film Exhibition (in educational centers throughout the island) and a screening for inmates at the Tahíche Penitentiary Center.
The FICL has also organized two workshops (Production Assistant and Eco Assistant) that are being “a success in participation”, a shop window contest that has involved twenty small businesses in Arrecife and a mural contest inspired by film icons.
“Roberto gave talks at the Festival, he was a jury member... We have a debt to him. The tribute that we are going to pay him will allow us to enter his universe and talk about his way of making cinema, pioneering and inspiring,” concluded Ismael Curbelo.
The FICL is a co-production of the Culture Area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Fisme Producciones that has the sponsorship of Canary Island Film, Canarian Institute for Cultural Development, Art, Culture and Tourism Centers, Arrecife City Council and Construcciones Lafruga, and with the collaboration of the Arrecife Gran Hotel, CICAR and Radio Televisión Canaria.
