The festival will kick off next Friday with the screening of short films by the FICBUEU Association, the creation of a floral carpet and a concert by the indie group Sr. Chinarro

30.08.24. BUEU. About to come of age (this year it reaches its seventeenth edition), the Bueu International Film Festival, the FICBUEU, has prepared a complete program that includes the premiere in Spain of 15 short films made by directors from Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, France, the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom or Finland. Two of them can be seen on Sunday, September 8 in the “Descubertas” section, which brings together half a dozen innovative and avant-garde films. The rest are part of the poster of the “Official Section”, which will take place in six blocks of films between Monday 9 and Saturday 14.

The competition will start next Friday 6 with the projection on the screen of the Centro Social do Mar de Bueu of Millonetis, made in collaboration with the Igualarte Foundation within the framework of the workshops of the Social Area of ​​the FICBUEU Association (8:00 p.m.) and with the creation outside of the floral carpet by the Cunchas e Flores Association. Afterwards it will be the turn of the concert by the Seville indie group Sr. Chinarro (9:30 p.m.). All these activities are free and it will only be necessary to collect the invitations – at the online box office or at the ticket office – to attend the premieres of the FICBUEU Association’s short films.

The new edition of the Bueu competition was publicly presented today in the centre of Bueu with the participation of the Councillor for Culture of Bueu, Carmen García; the President of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, Luis López; the director of the Galician Agency for Cultural Industries (AGADIC), Jacobo Sutil, and the directors and director of FICBUEU: Nerea Lores, María Ruiz-Falcó and Manuel Pena. Also present were the territorial delegate of the Xunta in Pontevedra, Agustín Reguera, and the provincial deputy for Culture, Jorge Cubela.

Councillor Carmen García congratulated the management and team of FICBUEU, a festival that, she recalled, “has the support of the neighbourhood, including the town’s associative network”. From the Provincial Council, Luis López recalled that the provincial body increased its support for the festivals of the province this year. And he highlighted the importance and interest of FICBUEU. The director of AGADIC, Jacobo Sutil, referred to the quality of the Festival’s programming as well as its implementation in the territory and social support. He also recalled that given the importance of the “strategic ecosystem of Galician festivals”, the Xunta also increased this year “by more than 30%” its support for this type of activities.

A high-level meeting

The FICBUEU is dedicating this year to its Cinematographic Days. It is one of the points of interest of this year’s programme, as explained during the presentation by Manuel Peña, co-director of the FICBUEU, during the day the impact on cinema, at different times in history, of the political currents of the FICBUEU was analysed. The moment will be analysed.

This year’s programme also includes a three-way meeting: director Rodrigo Cortés (Buried, Red lights or the yet-to-be-released Escape), novelist Juan Gómez-Jurado (creator of the Reina roja trilogy and its protagonist, Antonia Scott) and screenwriter, comedian and communicator Arturo González-Campos will chat with the public on Sunday 8th (12.00 noon) about the mark of the change that the arrival of sound in cinema meant. The three are part of the well-known podcasts “Todopoderosos” and “Aquí hay dragones”. In the afternoon they will meet the public again at a book signing.

The day before, on Saturday 7th, the III Xornadas Cinematográficas will take place. This space for reflection, which this year will address the relationship between cinema and politics, will feature a masterclass by Professor of Political Philosophy Camil Ungureanu, a conversation between critics and programmers Belit Lago and Daniela Urzola, an online round table with members of the podcast «La escóbula de la Brújula» and a meeting with director Jaime Rosales (Petra, Girasoles silvestres). In addition, the film The Conversation, made in 1974 by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman and John Cazale, will be screened.

The quarry is formed in Ons

In its second edition, the FICBUEU Residence has chosen four directors between 25 and 28 years old to develop their new projects. A team of experts led by the director and scriptwriter from Alava, Estibaliz Urresola (her first film, 20,000 species of bees, screened during the last edition of FICBUEU, won three Goyas) will train and advise them for a week (from October 16 to 23) on the island of Ons. They are the Argentine Camila Mailén Bóveda, the Catalans Ana Calderón and Anna Llargués and the Lucense Miguel Casaseca. One of the four short films will also receive support for its production. Last year the winning project was Sismes, by Jordi Sanz. It received a prize of 15,000 euros and was produced by the Galician production company Nortecatro Cinema and the Catalan company Shoji Films.

Between October 16 and 23, during their stay on the island, they will receive training and support from a team of experts led by the screenwriter of “20,000 especies de abellas”, Estíbaliz Urresola

28.08.24. BUEU. They are between 25 and 28 years old, building their professional careers around creating stories in audiovisual media and film. They submitted compelling screenplay projects that were chosen to participate in the FICBUEU Residency on the Island of Ons, a project by the Bueu International Film Festival aimed at supporting the development of short films. The selected participants will share both individual and group training and advisory activities during the residency on the Island of Ons, from October 16 to 23. Moreover, one of the short films will be supported for its production.

This year’s selected participants are Camila Mailén Bóveda Figueira, born in Argentina in 1996; Ana Calderón (Caldes de Malavella, Girona, 1998); Anna Llargués (Barberà del Vallès, Barcelona, 1999), and Miguel Casaseca from Lugo (1997). The first three presented dramatic short film screenplays titled, respectively, Área Central, Cotorra, and Àvia Peix. Casaseca submitted a mockumentary titled From NASA to Merceditas.

Training Team

The training team will be led by director and screenwriter Estibaliz Urresola, who will serve as a mentor. Her debut feature film, 20,000 especies de abellas, which was screened during the last edition of FICBUEU, won the Goya Awards for Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay this year. Over the course of a week, the Basque director will hold individual sessions with each of the participants to review and advance their works.

In addition to individual mentoring and group discussions with Urresola, the residents will have access to three specialized workshops to strengthen their projects: Guión con perspectiva de xénero, led by Carmen Ávalos; A importancia da coordinación de intimidade nunha rodaxe da man, presented by Tábata Cerezo and Lucía Delgado, founders of the specialized company IntimAct; and Primeiros pasos tras a finalización dun guión, taught by Beli Martínez.

Production of One of the Short Films

At the end of the program, the organization will once again select one of the participating screenplays for development and production. In the first edition of the residency, held last year, the chosen film for production was Sismes, by Jordi Sanz Angrill, co-written with David Junyent. 

Sismes tells the story of Mila, who, months after the mysterious departure of her ex-husband, returns to the volcanic island where they spent their honeymoon – which she recorded with a video camera. She becomes obsessed with filming herself to recreate the supposed counter-shots of the images from the trip, where only her ex-husband appears. By doing so, the protagonist seeks not only to relive her past but to merge and manipulate these images from different times to create a new narrative, a new memory.

• This year’s “Xornadas Cinematógraficas” is dedicated to reflect on the imprint of the political context of each era in cinema
• The members of the podcasts “Todopoderosos” and “Aquí hay dragones” will hold two meetings with the public on Sunday, September 8th
• Members of the podcast “La escóbula de la brújula” will participate virtually in a round table at the event

08.08.24. BUEU: How does the political context in which films are made impact on them? That is the topic that this year’s “Xornadas Cinematográficas” of the International Film Festival of Bueu will deal with. They will be held on Saturday, September 7, the first full day of activities of FICBUEU in its 2024 edition. In this first weekend of the Festival, the public of the event will be able to attend colloquiums, book presentations or meetings, physical and virtual, with the members of three of the most followed podcasts about cinema and culture in Spain.

The “Xornadas Cinematográficas”, which FICBUEU includes in its program for the third consecutive year, is a space for reflection and thought about cinema. Filmmakers, essayists, or professionals from different trades of the audiovisual sector participate. Each year, they are dedicated to a theme. In the seventeenth edition of the Bueu International Film Festival, they will address the relationship, the relationships, between cinema and politics. 

<<Be realistic: do the imposible!>>

Be realistic: do the impossible! The phrase, one of the slogans of the student movement of the 60s and coined by the philosopher Ernst Bloch, gives title to the master class with which the “Xornadas Cinematográficas” will begin. It will be given by Camil Ungureanu, professor of Political Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. 

Ungureanu has among his lines of research and reflection the relationship between cinema and politics. He will give a master class on this subject at FICBUEU. Then, the critics Daniela Urzola and Belit Lago will delve into the subject in the next “Xornadas Cinematográficas” conversation, entitled Trauma and reconstruction.

That same Saturday, in the afternoon, it will be the turn of one of the great filmmakers participating in this year’s FICBUEU. Jaime Rosales will hold a conversation with film critic Xavier Montoriol. It will be after part of the team of the podcast “La escóbula de la brújula” will participate in a virtual round table with the Festival attendees to talk about Art and advertising. The cinema between the wars.

On Sunday, as a podcast

Filmmaker Rodrigo Cortés, writer Juan Gómez-Jurado and screenwriter and communicator Arturo González Campos make up two of the most interesting podcasts in the Spanish cultural sphere: “Todopododerosos” and the irreverent “Aquí hay dragones”. All of them are also known for their careers in film, literature and audiovisuals, respectively, and they will once again join FICBUEU. It will be on Sunday, September 8 at 12 noon. They will talk about the change that the incorporation of sound meant for cinema and filmmaking. Later, at 5 p.m., they will sign books in an event that can be accessed free of charge after collecting the corresponding invitation at the box office.

González Campos, Cortés and Gómez-Jurado had already participated in 2018 in the Bueu International Film Festival. Their presentation at El Centro Social do Mar, where all FICBUEU face-to-face activities are held, registered on that occasion a full house. The activity was very well appreciated by the audience.

The participation of disseminators and scholars of the seventh art and audiovisuals is completed by the meeting that the public of FICBUEU will have with Professor Nieves Febrer. She is the author of the Festival’s Caderno #5, which deals with the figure of the creator of American experimental cinema, Jonas Mekas. She will present it on Saturday, September 14, during the “Retrospective” section, dedicated to Mekas.