The 27th Malaga Festival will host the screening of almost 250 works from March 1 to 10

From March 1 to 10, the 27th Malaga Festival will once again be the meeting point of Spanish audiovisual production with the screening of nearly 250 works including fiction feature films, documentaries, short films and TV series and the celebration of the MAFIZ industrial meeting.

He Echegaray Theater in Malaga It has been the framework in which all the keys to the 2024 edition of the event have been given. As he has explained Juan Antonio Vigar, manager of Málaga Procultura and director of the Málaga Festival, this year a total of 2,557 audiovisuals (compared to the 2,322 of the last edition, 10% more), for a total of 246 selected audiovisuals from 67 countries, which demonstrates the important international positioning of the festival, with a set of titles that are an x-ray of audiovisuals in Spanish in recent months.

The director of the Festival has highlighted “some very interesting data, which make up the x-ray of our festival”: “65% of those registered are Spanish, which shows that we are the reference Festival for Spanish cinema. In addition, we have received 900 Latin American audiovisuals, which reflects the important prestige and our growing positioning in sister territories.” “7% are co-productions, a true reflection of the dynamism of Spanish co-productions (182). And one fact that we especially like: we are a festival that continues to be a promoter of emerging talent, with 30%, almost 800 debut works, of those registered,” added Vigar.

Regarding this year's selection process, he reported that the selection committee has seen 172 Spanish feature films, 23 co-productions and 224 Latin American ones. Furthermore, Vigar has highlighted that, of the 2,557 films registered, 970 have been directed by women, which means 37.9% of the total; while, of those selected, 91 have been directed by women, 37.6%, “which represents practically the same average of registered films directed by women, with which we maintain proportionality and, with it, the already historic commitment with cinema made by women.”

Official section of the 27th Malaga Festival

The official competition section of this year's Malaga Festival will include 19 movies (11 Spanish and 8 Latin American). To them we must add 18 movies (15 Spanish and 3 Latin) in official non-competitive section, including the closing film.

To the Spanish ones already announced Dragonkeeper, by Salvador Simó, an animated film that opens the Festival; The good man, by David Trueba; The little loves, by Celia Rico, and Second prize, by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, join We treat women too well, by Clara Bilbao; A hipster in empty Spain, of Emilio Martinez-Lazaro; Home, de Alex Montoya; The Abbess, by Antonio Chavarrías; Nina, by Andrea Jaurrieta; Birds, by Pau Durà, and As Neves, by Sonia Méndez. Along with these, the Latin American ones will compete Yana-Wara, by Óscar Catacora (posthumous) and Tito Catacora (Peru); Rain, by Rodrigo García Saiz (Mexico); Shipwrecks, de Vanina Spataro (Argentina, Uruguay); Radical, by Christopher Zalla (Mexico); The wild woman, by Alán González (Cuba); Golan, by Orlando Culzat (Colombia); Rest in peace, by Sebastián Borensztein (Argentina); and The lands, by Verónica Chen (Argentina, Uruguay).

We must join them, out of competition, the closing film, which will be The Benetón family by Joaquín Mazón, and the remaining official passes out of competition: the Spanish Invasion, by David Martín-Porras; Ellipsis, by David Marqués; Little pieces, by Nacho García Velilla; The jump, by Benito Zambrano; Methuselah, by David Galán Galindo; Quiet, by Miguel Faus; The mill, by Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas; stories, by Paco Sepúlveda; Flag, by Martín Cuervo; The sleeping woman, by Laura Alvea; alone in the night, by Guillermo Rojas; I'm not that one, by María Ripoll; Disco, Ibiza, Locomía, by Kike Maíllo; and for your dead, by Sayago Ayuso, and the Latinas Like the sea, by Nicolás Gil Lavedra (Argentina, Uruguay); the shadow of the sun, by Miguel Ángel Ferrer (Venezuela, United States), and a blue bird, by Ariel Rotter (Argentina, Uruguay).

He jury of the Official Section It will be made up of the Argentine writer, screenwriter and playwright Claudia Piñeiro (Chairwoman); the director of the San Sebastián Festival, José Luis Rebordinos; Chilean actress Antonia Zegers; the Bolivian filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi; Spanish film director Javier Ruiz Caldera, and the Argentine film director and screenwriter Daniela Fejerman.

Zonazine, series, Cinema Cocina…

The programming of the 27th Malaga Festival is completed with Zonazine, a commitment to new cinema that is now 22 years old; the sections of short films and documentaries, o Mosaic: International Panorama, where you can see seven non-Latin American films that have won important festival awards. Likewise, there will be no shortage of the growing selection of series (non-competitive), in which they participate See you in another life, by Jorge and Alberto Sánchez-Cabezudo for Disney; Operation English Quarter, by Chiqui Carabante and José Ramón Ayerra for RTVE; Eva and Nicole, by David Molina, Antonio Hernández and Álvaro Vicario, and A new sunrise, by Jose Corbacho and Belén Macías, both for Atresmedia.

Regarding the gastronomic section of the Festival, Cinema Kitchen, and in collaboration with Lumen, Gastronomic Productions, unpublished Spanish and Latin American documentary feature films and short films participate in this section. There will be a total of 17 documentaries from 8 countries, competing for the silver medals in this section, which will also feature the usual round tables, tastings and a Gala Dinner at the Gran Hotel Miramar.

MAFIZ Industry, at the 27th Malaga Festival

Juan Antonio Vigar has also highlighted a strategic project for the Festival, the area of Industry MAFIZ, made up of events that promote the financing, co-production, distribution and sale of cinema in Spanish, all from the support and promotion of new Ibero-American audiovisual talent in its consideration as a transversal objective for this broad industrial area. Stand out in this area of ​​Industry Spanish Screenings Content (March 4-8), audiovisual market that is held thanks to the budget allocation framed in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan to reinforce Spain's role as Europe's audiovisual hub. Thus, with the Ministry of Culture and Sports through the ICAA, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through ICEX Spain Export and Investment, and the collaboration of the San Sebastián Festival, this event continues to be integrated into the framework of Spanish Screenings XXL, international market aimed at Spanish audiovisual production.

Besides, Latinamerican Focus, the bilateral co-production forum, will have as its protagonist this year Paraguay, Country of Honor of the 27th edition. On the other hand, in the section Territories, dedicated to the production of our autonomous communities, will occupy a preferential place Canary Islands, autonomous community of reference in this section.

Tributes, publications and concerts

As for the tributes, the Málaga-Sur Award will go to the actor Javier Cámara; the Ricardo Franco-Film Academy Award will go to the art director Ana Alvargonzález; the Málaga Talent-La Opinión de Málaga Award, for Pilar Palomero; the Retrospective-Málaga Hoy Award will go to the Argentine director Marcelo Piñeyro and the Biznaga Ciudad de Paraíso, for the essentials of Spanish cinema, will be for Lola Herrera. The Festival will also honor the recently deceased directors Ventura Pons and Patricia Ferreira and the actress Itziar Castro. Likewise, like every year, the Festival will host the delivery of the Andalusian Talent Award from Canal Sur, whose winner we will announce soon.

Other keys to the 27th Malaga Festival will be its gold film, which on this occasion has fallen to The new Spaniards, a 1974 classic directed by Roberto Bodegas; the publication of book The reinvention of Spanish cinema, by Carlos Heredero, in collaboration with the magazine Caimán Cuadernos de Cine; The time capsule y Underground andaluz, two new sections framed in the objective of recovering Spanish film heritage; a cycle in the extended programming of the MaF, Neopolis, which during the festival will group six activities with which we will connect audiovisual arts with science and technology; parallel concerts within the framework of the FM Festival, and the conclusion of the festival on Sunday the 10th with the now traditional movie marathon in it Albéniz with the winning films.

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