From 15 to 23 November, the Gijón/ Xixón International Film Festival will once again focus on quality, daring and innovative cinema. To this end, it will feature the work of renowned filmmakers such as Patricia Mazuy and Matías Piñeiro, as well as emerging directors such as Zsófia Szilágyi and Jaydon Martin, who are making and will continue to make a name for themselves.
Some of the most interesting looks at international contemporary cinema will be part of the Albar Official Selection.
The French filmmaker Patricia Mazuy, to whom the Festival dedicated a spotlight at its 60th edition, returns to the extraordinary Isabelle Huppert to play in La prisonnière de Bordeaux (France). Huppert and Hafsia Herzi play two women from opposing social classes who develop a strong bond after their husbands visit each other in prison. The director of Peaux de vaches, whose work is characterised by its elegance and a certain crudeness, will premiere her latest work in Spain in the Albar Official Section of the 62nd FICX.
La prisonnière de Bordeaux by Patricia Mazuy
Vulcanizadora (United States)is the new film by Joel Potrykus, one of the most singular looks in American independent cinema, whose Relaxer we saw at FICX in 2018. Devastating in its socio-political reading of present-day America, the film mixes references to Dostoyevsky or Sartre with nods to genre works such as Faces of Death or the Saw saga. The film is presented in Gijón after its screening at the New York Tribeca Festival, where actor Joshua Burge received a Special Mention.
Vulcanizadora by Joel Potrykus
The Argentinian filmmaker Matías Piñeiro returns to FICX after participating in 2020 with Isabella and in 2021 with Sycorax (a short film directed with Lois Patiño). His films have won awards at international festivals such as Locarno, BAFICI and Mar de Plata. Filmed in 16 mm with a Bolex camera, Tú me abrasas (Argentina, Spain) builds its universe from Greek mythology. After his Shakespearean adventures, Piñeiro dares on this occasion to take on Cesare Pavese’s The Dialogues with Leuco, in which the poet Sappho reflects with the nymph Britomartis on desire and death. The film competes in the Albar Official Selection after its appearance in the Encounters Section at the Berlinale.
Matthias Glasner has made Dying (Germany), an extraordinary film full of sharp black humour that won him the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlinale and several Lola German Film Awards, as well as pre-nomination for the European Film Awards. Through an episodic structure, the director masterfully portrays the failure and redemption of the members of a family.
The Retueyos Official Section adds new and attractive premieres to its programme
Peaches Goes Bananas (France, Belgium) is the latest work by French director Marie Losier. On this occasion, the champion of portraiture in film approaches the famous and provocative Canadian singer and songwriter Peaches and does so with the precise measure that exists between the artist’s public and private face. After the spotlight that FICX devoted to her in 2011 and after presenting Cassandro The Exotic! (2018) and Felix in Wonderland (2019) in Gijón, Losier returns to the Retueyos Official Selection with Peaches Goes Bananas, a work that had its world premiere at the Venice Festival.
Peaches Goes Bananas by Marie Losier
January 2 (Hungary) is the second feature film by Zsófia Szilágyi, a director whose debut (One Day) competed at FICX in 2018 after winning the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week. Brilliantly acted and vigorously staged, January 2 follows a woman who separates from her husband and moves in with her two children and the help of a friend in an attempt to rebuild her life. The film will compete in the Retueyos Official Selection after having screened at the Biennale College Cinema at the Venice Film Festival.
January 2 by Zsófia Szilágyi
Jaydon Martin‘s astonishing debut feature, Flathead (Australia), arrives in Gijón after receiving the Special Jury Mention at the Rotterdam Festival. In this moving non-fiction film in glorious black and white, the promising filmmaker portrays the Australian city of Bundaberg through a man who returns to his place of origin with the intention of redeeming himself and whom the director approaches with overflowing sensitivity.
The 62nd FICX unveils the first titles of the Official Short Films Section
Austrian filmmaker Johann Lurf, to whom the Festival dedicated a cycle in 2018 and whose works have been screened at leading international festivals such as Sundance and Rotterdam, co-directs Revolving Rounds (Austria) with artist and researcher Christina Jauernik. It is a short film with a circular structure shot in 16 and 35 mm that delves into the limits of perception. Revolving Rounds arrives at FICX after winning a Special Jury Mention at Locarno and after screening in Toronto and New York.
Also after being screened at the Toronto and New York festivals, John Smith‘s Being John Smith (UK) competes in the Official Short Film Section at FICX. In his latest work, the iconic English avant-garde filmmaker reflects on his life, career and legacy through a hilarious and disarming autobiography.
Three animated short films can be seen this year in the Official Section of FICX, such as Sheep Out (Poland), where director Zofia Klamka offers a beautiful story in which the hectic routine of its protagonist (an animation designer) is broken when she finds a drawing of a sheep. The short film will have its Spanish premiere at the Gijón festival after its screening at the Sydney and Annecy festivals.
FICX will also feature the Spanish premiere of Todos los futuros (France, Argentina). In this animation, director Bárbara Cerro presents a fascinating and colourful allegory about the creation and destruction of the world. The soundtrack that drives the short film and adds to the originality of this work is by the Dutch composer Jacco Gardner.
Todos los futuros by Bárbara Cerro
Animation director and graphic designer Edmunds Jansons has created Freeride in C (Latvia), a short film in which image and sound are organically combined to convey the feeling of freedom with which snow sports are experienced. The film moves to the sound of a version of Terry Riley’s In C, performed by The Young Gods.
Romanian director Emanuel Parvu, who competed this year in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, arrives at FICX with Better This Way (Romania). The short film, premiered at the Krakow Film Festival, follows a sixteen-year-old boy who is assaulted because of his sexual orientation.
The Festival will also feature the world premiere of Closeout (Lithuania). In the short film by filmmaker Agnė Girsaitė, a young woman learns that her late grandfather’s house is for sale and, with it, the memories that are part of her identity.
Closeout by Agnė Girsaitė
FICX Premiere continues to unveil its premiere gems
The European premiere of Tesis sobre una domesticación by Javier Van der Couter and the state premieres Te separas mucho by Paula Veleiro and A Shrine by Abdolreza Kahani will also be part of the FICX Premiere programme. These titles join the already announced In the Land of Brothers by Alireza Ghasemi & Raha Amirfazli; Imperial Princess by Virgil Vernier; C’est n’est qu’un au revoir (So Long) by Guillaume Brac; Monstruo de Xibalba by Manuela Irene (recently awarded the Best Mexican Feature Film Award at the Monterrey International Film Festival); and L’edat imminent by Col-lectiu Vigília (also present in the Enfants Terribles Section).
The Argentinean filmmaker Javier Van de Couter, who won the award for Best Film in the Tierres en Trance Section of the 58th FICX with Implosión, now presents Tesis sobre una domesticación (Argentina, Mexico). The film tells the story of a successful actress, her husband and their adopted son. Their efforts to become socially accepted will be challenged by a visit to the family village. Starring actress and writer Camila Sosa Villada, and based on her novel of the same name, Tesis sobre una domesticación will have its European premiere at FICX after its screening at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Tesis sobre una domesticación by Javier Van de Couter
Te separas mucho (Spain) is the debut feature by Paula Veleiro, who is also an editor. With the material recorded with her partner during their 9-year relationship and her parents‘ home videos, recorded between 1985 and 1990, the filmmaker confronts her own separation and the collapse of her parents’ relationship in a beautiful exercise in sincerity.
Abdolreza Kahani, an Iranian director who has won awards at prestigious international festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Damascus and Thessaloniki, has made A Shrine (Canada, France, Iran), a funny and moving film about a man who, after setting up a travelling shrine as a business, begins to question his moral integrity. The film, presented at the Edinburgh Festival, will have its state premiere at the 62nd FICX.
Asturian filmmakers Asur Fuente & Sergio Montero co-direct Tres hombres no pueden ocultarse bajo la tapa de un puchero, a feature film shot in the Valle de San Mamés and L’ Entregu, in which they approach a woman who shelters three men in search and capture after the defeat of the republican regime in a hideout under the kitchen of her house.
