The future of European cinema under debate at the Seville Festival

From November 9 to 17, the 15th Seville Film Festival consolidates itself as a fundamental enclave for all agents of the European film industry. The Europa Cinemas Innovation Lab and the Europa International meeting, with some of the most important European international distributors, will reinforce the transcendent role of the event.

New forms of viewer consumption, paradigm shifts in audiovisuals, communication strategies, co-production possibilities, gender equality... are some of the topics that international representatives of the industry will discuss at the Seville Festival.

Consolidated as the main European reference point for filmmakers, producers, distributors, exhibitors and communicators, the 15th Seville Festival will once again activate the SEFF Industria, a space where, between the November 13 and 17, dozens of activities will be established within the framework of a necessary and transcendent debate for the future of cinema in Europe.

The involvement of Europa Cinemas, the largest network of European film programming theaters, with more than 2,800 theaters in 44 countries, stands out. With the aim of offering financial support to exhibitors and developing activities aimed at young audiences, Europa Cinemas brings its Innovation Lab to Seville, thus opening a space for debate with the aim of attracting and increasing audiences, creating demand, diversifying European film programming, building relationships, taking advantage of resources, activating joint actions at a continental level, adapt to changes in leisure models, develop financing and communication strategies, and exchange experiences between various professionals in the sector from around the world.

At the same time, and thanks to the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española, Extenda and the Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions, the #15FestivalSevilla will deepen its motto Make them circulate!. In this sense, the city will host the 7th Annual Europe International Conference, the European network of international sales agents, with 46 members in 15 countries, whose main objective is to improve and increase the international distribution and circulation of European films within and outside Europe.

Among them, international distributors such as Les films du Losange, a company created in 1962 by Barbet Schroeder and Eric Rohmer and which today handles titles by Michael Haneke and Jacques Rivette; The Match Factory (which has Lucrecia Martel, Abel Ferrara, Miguel Gomes and Fath Akin in its catalog), Wild Bunch (Godard, Ken Loach, Emir Kusturica and Nicholas Winding), Films Boutque (which in 2018 already has the Un Certain award Regard, the Jean Vigo and the Best Female Filmmaker in Venice) or the new company Charades that in its first year in Cannes won the Critics' Week with 'Diamantino'. New business models for the promotion of theatrical and digital releases, new marketing strategies or the role of sales agents and festivals in the circulation of films will be some of the topics to be addressed.

In Seville, the nearest future of a significant and decisive part of the exhibition and distribution of European cinema will be put on the table. It will be an extraordinary opportunity for all film professionals and for those who are taking their first steps in the sector, which has also been possible thanks to the invaluable and vital collaboration Acción Cultural Española with its Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) program.

More activities for professionals

The program will be complemented with the XVI Animation and Video Games Meeting of the AVA Foundation, las Women in Focus journeys organized by AAMMA, the 2nd edition of the Image Education Forum, and talks and conferences linked to the development and production of cinematographic works thanks to the special focus Sistema Italia, which will analyze possible forms of cooperation between Spain, Latin America and the transalpine country, which have been extended considerably after its entry into the Ibermedia program.

But the Festival also opens its doors to both Andalusian production companies thanks to the sessions coordinated by Extenda with meetings and personalized meetings, as well as to Film Schools from our country that will come to Seville and to which the festival will connect with both filmmakers and distribution and exhibition professionals.

Within the activities of the SEFF Industry, the final touch will be put on the I Edition of The Screen Incubator, ECAM's feature film development program aimed at emerging producers, directors and screenwriters residing in Spain through mentoring, advice and the financing of five feature film projects with international potential.

On November 14, a meeting will take place between the members of Europe International, which will be attended by more than 40 sales agents from all over Europe, and the producers of the incubated feature film projects: Lina Badenes and Belén Sánchez ('La Inocencia', currently in post-production), Jaime Gona ('The Professor', directed by Daniel Castro), Sergy Moreno ('Josefina', directed by Javier Marco), Laura Rubirola ('La Bestia', directed by David Casademunt) and Alberto Tortes ('Los García', documentary directed by Paco Nicolás).

Offering a visibility platform to film schools, showing the latent creativity and brilliant training activity of these centers, the #15FestivalSevilla has opened a new section, 'A Young Continent', which will screen titles promoted by European schools and universities.

In addition, and taking advantage of the International Europe meeting, the festival will organize meetings between young filmmakers, distributors and sales agents, to establish contacts and seek support for upcoming projects. In this sense, the new section will propose a dialogue between two highly influential schools: the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, the oldest and most important in Germany, and the aforementioned ECAM (School of Cinematography and Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid). The German center will show 'The Island', directed by Lars Ostmann, while the ECAM will present 'Los Pilares', by Raúl Vallejo, Claudia Negro, Lucía Touceda and Javier Moreno. Both will be presented in a world premiere.

The ESCAC, another of the pillars of cinematographic training in the country, will also come to Seville: it will be a representation of its students who will attend to open avenues of collaboration and knowledge with the main Non-Fiction directors programmed by the festival.

Filmmakers on the way to Seville

With a programming that will show more than 220 titles, the Seville Festival reaches its 15th edition, evidencing the constant evolution and capacity for reinvention of European cinema. With a notable presence of productions recognized in festivals around the world, as well as a total of 74 Spanish films (50 features and 24 shorts), among them 39 Andalusian, of the most unorthodox nature, the festival will offer 35 world premieres, 116 premieres nationals of 52 participating cinemas (8 from non-European countries) in more than 400 screenings, in an event that brings together the public, creators, professionals and programmers. Beyond the wide offering of the festival, where the Sevillian event really makes the difference is in the presence of the filmmakers who accompany and present their own works in the exhibition.

The prominence of Seville as a meeting point for European cinema is reaffirmed with the presence of practically all the film teams that will make up its programming. This year the festival will welcome great figures of European cinema and young discoveries, with awards at the most prestigious festivals: from the Berlin winners will be Adina Pintilie with 'Touch Me Not' (winner of the Golden Bear), and Alexei German Jr. with 'Dovlatov' (Silver Bear for Artistic Contribution). From Venice, Sudabeh Mortezai with 'Joy' (Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film and the Hearst Award for Best Woman Director at the Giornate degli Autori). And from the last Locarno, Eva Trobisch with 'All Good', Tarik Aktas with 'Dead Horse Nebula', and Sara Fattahi with 'Chaos'. The Festival will also welcome Jean-Bernard Marlin, who won the Jean Vigo Prize with 'Shéhérezade'.

The parade of great filmmakers will include names such as Christophe Honoré ('Living fast, loving slowly', Salomé Lamas ('Extinçao'), Nicolas Philibert ('De chaque instant'), Milorad Krstić ('Ruben Brandt, Collector'), Stefano Savona ('Samouni Road'), Mats Grorud ('The Tower'), Marie Garel-Weiss ('La fête est finie'), Jamie Jones ('Obey'), James Gardner ('Jellyfish'), Tom Beard ('Two for Joy'), Bernie Goldblat ('Wallay'), Trevor Hardy ('Strike'), or Anna Eriksson ('M'). The three honorees of the #15FestivalSevilla will also pass through the city: Roy Andersson, Ildikó Enyedi and Ula Stöckl will star in the most emotional moments of the contest.

Por supuesto, el cine español tendrá un enorme protagonismo en la programación del Festival de Sevilla, y sus equipos también estarán presentando sus trabajos. Alberto San Juan estrenará su primer film como director, ‘El rey’, sobre la obra homónima de Teatro del Barrio. Después de ‘Ciutat morta’, Xavier Artigas y Xapo Ortega vuelven con otro documental de denuncia, ‘Idrissa, crónica de una muerte cualquiera’. Con ‘La ciudad oculta’, Víctor Moreno continúa con una trayectoria marcada por aquel insólito retrato de la crisis que era ‘Edificio España’. Se proyectará ‘Alegría, tristeza’, de Ibon Cormenzana, con Roberto Álamo y Maggie Civantos. Pablo Llorca regresa a un festival que conoce bien (y que el año pasado le premió ‘Ternura y tercera persona’), con ‘El viaje a Kioto’. También vuelve María Antón, que ya estuvo en Sevilla como miembro del colectivo lacasinegra con ‘Pas a Genève’ y que ahora mostrará su primer film en solitario, ‘<3’. Samuel Alarcón traerá el documental ‘Oscuro y lucientes’. Y Hernán Zin presentará ‘Morir para contar’, ganador del primer premio en la Sección Oficial Documentaries of the World del Festival Internacional de Cine de Montreal.

Andalusian accent

Among the industry meetings, several related to Andalusian cinema stand out, with which the Seville Festival continues to show maximum commitment. In this sense, Dani Rovira will arrive with the documentary 'All the Roads' under his arm, which will have its world award in Seville. The actor from Malaga is the producer of a film directed by Sevillian Paola García Costas ('Final Line'), which seeks to give visibility and encourage research into Rett Syndrome, a rare neurological pathology that little Marina suffers from. His father, a firefighter and a personal trainer accompany Rovira on a 1,500-kilometer solidarity trip by bicycle, from Barcelona to the Vatican, to raise funds.

Panorama Andaluz will also premiere 'Al sur del Sur', a documentary by Manuel Blanco that develops a visual map of the Bay of Cádiz and its inhabitants, which starts from the San Fernando estuaries, revitalized since 2013 by the Bahía de Cádiz Association, which is committed to its sustainability as an economic, tourist and ecological engine.

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