Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival Returns to Five Scottish Venues for its 11th Edition
By Irene Brown
The Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival (ESFF), now in its 11th edition, offers a packed programme of events, featuring a total of 15 films that offer a snapshot of the best new Spanish-language cinema for 2024. The new features are Scottish premieres, with most having their only screening in the UK during the festival.
The opening film, Artificial Justice by Simón Casal, is a political thriller that takes place in a futuristic Galicia and questions the boundaries of A.I. on our lives. Artificial Justice will screen at the Odeon, Lothian Road, Edinburgh on Thursday 3rd October at 18:30 and will be followed by a Q&A with Casal in conversation with festival Founder and Director, Marian A. Aréchaga.
The programme is a mix of stories of everyday life and its complexities with Little Loves by Celia Rico Clavellino; The Quiet Maid by Miguel Faus and Under Therapy by Gerardo Herrero; Campionex by Javier Fesser; Chinas by Arantxa Echevarría and Norberto/a by Sonia Escolanoa and Belén López are all human dramas where characters escape normality to forge their own road ahead.
Fiction and reality are also part of this year’s programmewith The Teacher who Promised the Sea by Patricia Font; I Am Nevenka, the latest film directed by award-winning writer, actor and director Icíar Bollaín; Birth by Pau Teixidor that is dedicated to those women whose children were stolen at birth in the 1980s and the documentary I Am a Rebel by Paloma Concejero.
The Latin American section presents three films: Puan by María Alché and Benjamin Naishtat is, The Blue Star by Javier Macipe and The Most Feared Skin by Joel Calero.
All films screen in their original language with English subtitles. For hard of hearing audiences, ESFF continues to work with local accessibility experts, Screen Language, and Little Loves and The Quiet Maid will screen with descriptive Captions in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Tranent.
ESFF’s popular wine-tasting event will return to the Institute Francais d’Ecosse on Wednesday 2nd October at 19:45, featuring a selection of six wines from the prestigious Bodegas Alvear followed by a selection of tapas from the festival’s favourite, local, Spanish restaurants.
ESFF Director Marian A. Aréchaga said, “Spanish cinema is on a high, with the number of films produced in Spain rising steadily in the past few years. At ESFF we are delighted to bring the best of those titles alongside some of the most exciting features from Latin America. It has been and is an incredible experience to share thoughts, views and ideas with directors, colleagues, students and wonderful interpreters who make the whole thing possible.”
This year, ESFF will collaborate with online education platform, Platino Educa to offer The Olive Tree by Iciar Bollaín, free, online, ready to be viewed from the comfort of the classroom for all UK secondary schools. For secondary schools, The Teacher who Promised the Sea by Patricia Font will screen at the Institute Francais d’Ecosse, Edinburgh and at the Cervantes Institute, Manchester, whilst younger audiences can enjoy cinema screenings of Camponex by Javier Fesser in Edinburgh.
ESFF runs from 2nd to 26th October 2024 at the following venues:
Edinburgh – French Institute; Odeon Lothian Road; Vue Omni; University of Edinburgh George Square
Glasgow – Glasgow Film Theatre
Stirling -Macrobert Arts Centre
Tranent -Fraser Centre
Inverness – Eden Court Theatre
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