The César Manrique Foundation (FCM) will premiere the film 'De una isla' next Tuesday, May 21, directed by filmmaker José Luis Guerin commissioned by the FCM, which has produced this short film about Lanzarote and César Manrique.
The director will be present at the film's premiere, which will take place at the Multicines Atlántida at 8:00 p.m., within the framework of collaboration between the FCM and the Spínola Group for the development of the Centenary 100 years of life, organized by the institution that bears the artist's name.
Admission will be free until the room is full. Those interested in attending the premiere may pick up their ticket at the FCM headquarters, in Taro de Tahíche, on May 16, 17, 20 and 21 from 09:00 to 15:00 hours or at the box office of the Cines Atlántida on May 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 during box office opening hours. A maximum of two tickets per person will be given.
César Manrique and the awareness of the territory
According to the FCM, 'De una isla' is "a poetic approach to the origins and mythical configuration of Lanzarote." Investigating the legacy of César Manrique, Guerin wonders if there is in the History of Art a case equivalent to that of this creator who, "almost alone, achieves such a radical change on his own territory. A profound and lasting change based on the reading and interpretation of the landscape, ultimately, on the awareness of the territory itself," says the director.
It is this immaterial perspective that the filmmaker considers to be of greater scope in the work of César Manrique since, "after all, it is at the base of all his artistic production diversified in painting, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, landscaping and interior design," in his words.
From this approach, the renowned filmmaker, author of such celebrated films as 'En construcción', 'Innisfree' or 'En la ciudad de Silvia', wanted to present his contribution to the centenary of the artist's birth, starting not so much from his objects as from what implicitly lies in them, from the "humus" from which they arise.
With this purpose, José Luis Guerin has scouted Lanzarote, "seeking to reveal the mystery of this great landscape drama that the island embodies, scrutinizing on the ground vestiges and clues provided by the winds, minerals, botany and myths and identifying in all this a mirror of the human," said the filmmaker. According to Guerin, "attending to Manrique's artisanal claim" he has worked "the images on photochemical support, evidencing their own materiality through the glazes, the grain and the texture that he wanted to merge with that of the island's basalt".
An award-winning career
In his film career as director and screenwriter of his films, José Luis Guerin (Barcelona, 1960) has combined fiction and documentary, blurring the boundaries between both genres.
Guerin has been present at Film Festivals such as Venice (Official Section), Cannes (Un Certain Regard, Directors' Fortnight), Berlin (Forum), San Sebastian (Official Competition), as well as several times in Locarno, Rotterdam or Tokyo, among others. He is one of the Spanish filmmakers with the best critical and public reception at International Festivals.
He was awarded the National Film Award in 2001 and has had retrospectives dedicated to him at festivals and important cultural centers such as the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) or the Harvard Film Institute.