After a morning attending numerous interviews with the media of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Tenerife, the Jury of the XIV Lanzarote International Film Festival (FICL2014) visited the Cactus Garden, officially invited by the organization of the event, the Education and Culture Area of the Cabildo and Fisme Producciones. Integrated in the network of Art, Culture and Tourism Centers, this peculiar botanical garden was the last intervention of César Manrique in Lanzarote. It was inaugurated in 1990.
"You are privileged to live on this island", some of the members of the Jury agreed, after touring the extensive and rich collection of cacti that houses the youngest of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers. Not in vain, it is another accurate example of the art-nature binomial that defines the work of the visionary artist from Lanzarote.
In addition to admiring the surrounding beauty, the members of the Jury spoke about cinema and the Festival. Unax Ugalde recalled that "the short film is not a minor genre, nor a 'cover letter', but a genre in itself that requires a refined capacity for synthesis." "It's a shame - added the actor - that only four prizes are awarded because we have seen incredible performances and fantastic soundtracks." The Festival "should grow and expand", Ugalde pointed out.
The plastic artist Marina Anaya highlighted "the great variety of techniques used in the selected animated shorts", and Puy Oria claimed "the possibility that Spanish cinema that is screened at the Festival arrives in Lanzarote throughout the year". "May the event not be an annual exception but a weekly reality, with a stable program throughout the year," he stressed.
Hiba Abouk vindicated "the existence of platforms in which to see the various forms of expression of the filmmakers"; as did Natalia Verbeke, who underlined the quality of the national short films seen and confessed to being "amazed" with the island landscape. "I have visited the National Park and... I no longer need to go to the moon". Aura Garrido, in addition to wishing "long life to the Festival", asked that "we take care of the island".
The rest of the members of the Jury, Lluis Homar, Montxo Armendáriz, Teresa Die, Sebastián Gil, Iñigo Castanedo and Javier Alonso walked through the Garden in the company of the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, and the councilor of Commerce and Tourism of the City Council of Arrecife, Rafael Juan González.
This Saturday, April 5, the Jury will participate in the Gala of the Insular Theater of Lanzarote to announce the list of winners on stage and present the awards to the four award-winning short filmmakers of this fourteenth edition of the Festival.
The last tickets to attend the Closing Gala will be available to viewers at the box office of the Insular Theater of Lanzarote, half an hour before the start of the event: from 8:00 p.m.
