After three months of intense viewing, the selection committee of the XVI Lanzarote International Film Festival has announced its Official Selection, consisting of 80 short films, 20 Spanish fiction shorts, 20 international fiction works, 15 documentaries and 25 animated pieces, which will be screened from April 4 to 16 on the big screen.
Art directors, photographers, fine arts professionals, tourism, photography and the cultural field, teachers, actors, producers, journalists and Audiovisual Communication students make up the committee in charge of selecting the best works from among the 2,400 shorts received this year.
The crisis still permeates the theme of Spanish fiction shorts, but comedy is making its way. Emerging filmmakers and film schools are signing the direction and production of several works, which translates "into fresh, fun and full of surprises ideas", says Airam González, head of this category. The crisis has forced many filmmakers to emigrate and a large number of shorts have been shot outside of Spain. "The selection is very varied, with very different styles and themes; I think there is no favorite and that makes the festival more interesting than ever."
In the documentaries: experimental pieces and stories as "incredible" as they are diverse (from the bombing that devastated Málaga in 1937, to the situation of the gay community in Russia, passing through the traumatic mark left by the war in Liberia). Journalist Saúl García underlines "the quality of the Russian, Brazilian and Spanish shorts". Most of the 250 works received were technically impeccable, but differed greatly "in the quality of the stories".
"Creative, ambitious", who set their sights "on social and existential values, on overcoming and on daily life". This is how the twenty international fiction works chosen are. Eva Rosendo also highlights an "excellent narrative that neither trivializes nor sins of sentimentality." Among the selected productions, shorts from Brazil, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, France, Mexico, Hungary, New Zealand and Italy.
Sixty animated pieces have stood out this year among the almost 300 submitted to the competition, with very heterogeneous techniques and aesthetics: "From classic stop-motion to the latest in digital animation. From the simple black line on a white background to much more elaborate proposals", explains Alejandro Aguilar. Among the 25 selected pieces, the abundant surrealist theme is striking.
The FICL committee —a cultural project organized by the Culture area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Fisme Producciones— has been made up of Eva Rosendo, Pablo Rodríguez, Mikel Esnaola, Sergio Martín, Tania González, Eros Dean, María Sanz, Alastair Cureton-Griffiths, Javier Acevedo, David Hernández, David Giménez, Elba González, Eva Navarro, Irene Silvera, Airam González, Mariate Die, Juan Carlos del Castillo, Antonio Herrera, Javier Alonso, Saúl García, Oscar García, José Víctor Medina, Alejandro Aguilar, Elena Betancor and Pepe Betancort.