Photos: Sergio Betancort
The eighteenth birthday of the Lanzarote International Film Festival began with an unpublished piece of contemporary dance, Old Breathe, produced by Sala Cúrcuma. Eight dancers on stage expressing the creative process: from inspiration, to the development of the work to the stressful race against the clock that is lived to put the necessary "the end".
With a wardrobe where ochres and dull greens, the colors of the Lanzarote landscape, the piece directed by the Lanzarote choreographer and dancer Acerina Hernández Toledo, ended with a heel that went out with the light and lit the first applause of the night. The actor Lamberto Guerra came to the stage to congratulate the coming of age of this festival that began as a sample, as a window to see the best short film in the country.
"This festival is a lighthouse in the Atlantic for the short genre, still wrongly called minor because it is freer and takes more risks when portraying the reality that surrounds us," says Lamberto. The first thing he remembered is that the FICL is a co-production of the Culture area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Fisme Producciones in which the Lanzarote Film Commission, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Arrecife City Council, the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers collaborate. The second important message he says it loud and clear, without detours or contexts; the whole public knows what he is referring to: "No is no". The Teatro El Salinero broke into applause.
Ismael Curbelo, director of the Lanzarote International Film Festival, opened the set of interviews recapping figures: 97 short films in competition, 11 short films in the children's and youth section, 4 for adults, 24 in the short express contest... "I think that's what it's about: enjoying cinema far and wide and if possible at length."
In the Woods: reality surpasses fiction
The first award of the night was the Audience Award for best short documentary that went to Las Patronas, by Rober Astorgano. "This is a wonderful island," said María Silveyro, from the iconic Ocho y Medio bookstore, to begin with. "The documentary is always very close to the land and reality. Someone who has seen the section gets an idea of the agenda of our days," says critic Casimiro Torreiro.
Irene Silvera, programmer and collaborator of the festival for many years, highlighted the "impeccable technical invoice" and the "emotionality" of the selected documentaries. The award, by quorum, for Best Documentary Short Film went to Ins Holz (In the woods), by Corina Schwingruber and Thomas Horat (Switzerland), the portrait of an ancestral Swiss tradition that links man and nature.
Carnal symbiosis, criticism and visual enjoyment
"Animation stopped being a children's thing many years ago," said Lamberto.
"The technical quality, the way they transmit the message, the effects...?", lists the artist Atchen Pounapal. Everything has been very surprising. "From classic animations to other riskier ones, which tell very current themes that take you to places that would be impossible to reach otherwise? The level is very high", explained the actress Marta Nieto.
"We wanted to highlight that all the short films have very good quality," continue Atchen and Pepe Vera. "Some with not so refined techniques but with an incredible message." Their vote has been so close that they decided to give a special mention to the short Tweet Tweet, by Zhanna Bekmambetova. The Best Animated Short Film went to Carnal Symbiosis, by Rocío Álvarez. Echedey Eugenio, CEO of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of Lanzarote, presented the award to the Spanish director residing in Belgium. "I am very happy that this piece, which I have conceived as a visual work due to my training as a painter, receives the award. For me it was important that it was a visual spectacle, but that it had content and criticism. Thanks to the Festival for the welcome and for making it possible for these different pieces to be seen and appreciated," said the director.
A lot of good Canarian cinema: February 29
The reality to begin with: "In the Canary Islands a lot of very good cinema is made", recalled Lamberto, who is part of the Canarian film industry. The audience award of the FICL was taken by Mar, a short film by David Hernández and Pedro Pérez, from the Lanzarote production company Liken Films.
"If I haven't asked our guide thirty times, can we film here? I haven't asked him at all...", said Manuela Ocón. "Lanzarote is an incredible place. It has all the possibilities", said the production director of La isla mínima and La Peste. Is Canarian cinema different from other types of cinema? "I have been very surprised: a lot of creativity, things very well done", said Araia Asensio. "Once again it is shown that many things can be told from a particular place, local stories", added Manuela, who managed to make internationally recognized cinema from her city, Seville.
The jury decided to award two mentions, one for El viaje del libro, by Dani Millán, and another for Morir en el intento, a work by young students from the Gran Canaria school Cámara y Acción. "It had a magical component that, leaving aside the technique, we liked very much. We want to reward the desire to use the cinematographic language to carry out that story", explained the actor Daniel Holguín.
The Best Canarian Short Film went to February 29, by Ángel Valiente. The Councilor for Culture of the Arrecife City Council, Jimena Álvarez, presented the award to the filmmaker residing in La Palma. "I started making professional cinema on this island, I lived here for fifteen years. This is a documentary about a banana grower from Los Sauces. With the short film being able to be seen in Lanzarote I was already happy. Getting the award is the most. I want to dedicate it to Davinia and my children. And thank Gustavo especially, the protagonist of the short film; they are going to see now the situation he went through for many years". The day-to-day survival of a lucid worker of the banana plantations and caregiver of dependent people managed to reap applause during the screening for his criticism of the leaders of the agricultural cooperatives and for his serene vindication.
True Men Don't Cry: connection to the other side of the wall
"I was in the second edition of the Festival and I was excited about the idea of returning to Lanzarote; I have been surprised by the high level of the section", said Alberto Rodríguez, director of La isla mínima.
Lamberto claimed an award for the best interpretation. "There are interpretations that make a short film a winner or that are worth a mention? adds the actress Cristina Castaño? It is a pleasure to be here, to know the island from the hand of the festival, thank you very much for inviting us. You have a wonderful island". The Lanzarote actress Marta Viera highlights that in all the short films of the section "there is a great need to express what is happening".
"We want to give a special mention to the short film Yerbabuena, by Estefanía Cortés", they announced. The Best National Fiction Short Film went to True Men Don't Cry, by Lucas Castán. "I was very curious to know how this story was received here. Because I come from the Pyrenees, almost from the other side of the wall, as they would say in Game of Thrones, here you are much more open and hospitable, there we are more reserved, like the protagonist of the short film, who is a bit vinegar. The curiosity was transformed into honor when I found out about the jury that the Festival had. I admire them, that's why for me the award is even more gratifying", said Lucas Castán.
"In love with the director's vision": Calamity
The audience award for the International Fiction Shorts section went to Are you volleyball?, by Iranian Mohammad Bakhsi. "It has been a fantastic experience? values the Lanzarote actor Miguel Mota? During the contemporary dance, María said 'but how much art there is on this island'...". The appealed María Ripoll, director, underlines: "We have loved it. On this island everything is magical". "And we have to congratulate the selection committee. You are very good at selecting short films".
"I am fascinated by the short film format, I have been to other festivals and I was very surprised by the level. The winner is because we have fallen in love with the personal vision of this director", explained the actress Verónica Echegui.
Lamberto recovered one of the topics of conversation of the meeting at the Pancho Lasso School of Art. "We have always been storytellers? says María Ripoll? We need women directing. I am teaching at the ECAM [School of Cinematography and Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid] and all my students, ten, are men. How can it be that we do not advance. I am from CIMA [Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media] and we are trying to ensure that in all festival committees, in the ICCA, there are women, because we have different tastes".
Verónica Echegui shared another experience: "In the summer I was a jury at the Locarno festival and it made me very happy to see that in the Filmmakers of the Future section there was the same number of women as men. And I find more and more young women directing. We are starting to believe it", says Verónica Echegui. "The example is the Best Animated Short Film of the festival, I love it", says María Ripoll.
Calamity, by Maxime Feyers and Séverine de Streyker won the award for Best International Fiction Short Film. The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, presented the award to the co-director Séverine de Streyker. "I am very happy to be here, I am really impressed by the dimension of the Festival you have, it is wonderful to see the room full. Thank you very much. I wish a very long life to the festival, I would love to come back", thanks the filmmaker. The night concluded with the screening of a video with the best moments of the festival and applause for the team and the public that makes it possible.
