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The relationship between cinema and politics, Coppola’s film “The Conversation” on the big screen, the official section or the competition between short films by new Galician authors, among the scheduled activities

05.09.24. BUEU. The FICUEU begins tomorrow Friday with the premiere of the short films co-produced by the FICBUEU Association, the production of the floral carpet by the Cunchas e Flores Association and the concert by the Seville indie group Sr. Chinorro.

One of the short films is Millonetis, made in collaboration with the Igualarte Foundation within the framework of the FICBUEU Social Area workshops. In the short, the students criticise evictions, one of the evils of today’s society. The other short is the documentary A Roiba. A refuge in Beluso, directed by Jaime Olmedo and where we can discover the peculiarities of the work of the architect Ramón Vázquez Molezún in Bueu.

The FICBUEU arrives, one more year, with a wide range of screenings and activities around cinema. What are they? The information is below these lines.

6 things you should know about the 17th edition of the Festival

1. It connects cinema and politics. FICBUEU is also thought, ideas and analysis. That is why the word, dialogue and the dissemination of knowledge about cinema have a prominent place in the Festival. The public will be able to participate in a master class by Camil Ungureanu, professor of Political Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, ​​in the conversation between critics Daniela Urzola and Belit Lago; in the virtual round table by part of the team from the podcast «La escóbula de la brújula» and in a meeting with the filmmaker Jaime Rosales (Petra, Girasoles silvestres, La soledad) and the critic Xavier Montoriol.
2. Bringing back the legendary Coppola for the big screen. The finale to the film days programme on Saturday 7 will be a feature film, the only one to be screened at FICBUEU (9:00 p.m.). This is The Conversation, a “gem” written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman and John Cazale. An intelligent thriller full of traps about a detective specializing in surveillance and eavesdropping, spying on people and responsibility in technological intrusion. The film was released in 1974, between The Godfather and The Godfather II, but it did not go unnoticed: it was nominated for an Oscar and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. A unique opportunity to see a classic on the big screen.
3. It puts the spotlight on the closest emerging talent. It does so with the “GZ_00” section, created in the last edition to disseminate the work of new film talents from Galicia and bring it closer to the general public. The selected shorts are four, all of the documentary genre. The screenings will be on Sunday 8th, starting at 6:30 p.m. From 8 p.m., the three directors and the director of the films in competition will talk to the public about their respective works.
4. Discover key figures in the history of cinema. This is the case of Jonas Mekas (1922-2019), an experimental filmmaker and cultural agitator of Lithuanian origin, admired by figures such as Warhol or Sartre and considered the father of American avant-garde cinema. This year, the festival is dedicating its Caderno FICBUEU#5 and the “Retrospective” section to him, with a selection of his most innovative and interesting shorts. It will be on Saturday 14th.
5. It recognises the best Galician professionals. The actress from Vigo, María Vázquez, has a career spanning more than twenty years of acting in Galicia and at a national level, both in film and television. From her appearance in the youth series Al salir de clase to the most recent Fariña and in films such as Silencio roto (Montxo Armendáriz), Mataharis (Icíar Bollaín), Quien a hierro mata (Paco Plaza) or Matria (Álvaro Gago). The festival will present her with the FICBUEU Galician Cinema Award on Saturday 14th.
6. It promotes solidarity, inclusion and conciliation. With initiatives such as the FICBUEU play centre, launched in 2023 in collaboration with the Xunta to promote family conciliation. This leisure space for children over 3 years old is free and will be open from Monday 9 to Friday 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and on Saturday 14, from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The campaign to collect menstrual management products also continues in this edition to raise awareness of menstruation-related poverty, which affects millions of women around the world. To this end, in collaboration with the FESBAL Food Bank, there will be boxes in which tampons, pads or menstrual cups can be deposited for distribution among different local entities. The initiative came from the festival’s own audience, which in 2022 awarded its prize to Spotless, a short film on this subject by Dutch director Emma Branderhorst.