12/09/2024 - The Valladolid International Film Festival will host the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Alain Guiraudie, Miguel Gomes, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Maura Delpero and Emanuel Pârvu, among others

Yesterday, José Luis Cienfuegos, director for the second year of Seminci, Valladolid International Film Festival, which will be held from 18 to 26 October, presented at the Film Academy in Madrid the bulk of the programme for its 69th edition. This now completes that previously announced with an outstanding Spanish presence at the event (read more).

Major European filmmakers will compete for the Golden Spike, the highest award of the festival, which in its Official Section will feature the latest works by the French Olivier Assayas (Suspended Time [+see also:
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film profile]) and Alain Guiraudie (Misericordia [+see also:
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interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile]), the Portuguese Miguel Gomes (Grand Tour [+see also:
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interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile], winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival), the Greek Athina Rachel Tsangari (Harvest [+see also:
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interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile]) and the Italian Maura Delpero with Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+see also:
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interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] (Grand Jury Prize at the recent Venice Film Festival).

In addition to these names, there are the eagerly awaited works by Norwegian Dag Johan Haugerud (Sex [+see also:
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interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
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interview: Emanuel Pârvu
film profile]), and the debut films by Norwegian Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Armand [+see also:
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interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview: Renate Reinsve
film profile], Camera d'Or at Cannes), Greek Ariane Labed (September Says [+see also:
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interview: Ariane Labed
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interview: Agathe Riedinger
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Completing the official competition section are other notable international directors, such as the Chinese Guan Hu (with Black Dog, best film in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes), the Iranians Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (with My Favourite Cake [+see also:
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Out of competition, the French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius will present his animated feature The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
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interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] and special screenings will also include The Wailing [+see also:
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interview: Pedro Martín-Calero, Isabel…
film profile], the debut film by the Spaniard Pedro Martín-Calero, a contender for the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. In addition, The New Years [+see also:
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series profile], a series directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, will have its Spanish premiere after its world premiere in Venice.

Meanwhile, the parallel section Meeting Point, described as an urgent cartography of contemporary cinema and our world, will screen striking European works such as Toxic [+see also:
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interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Saulė Bliuvaitė
film profile] by Lithuanian Saulė Bliuvaitė (Golden Leopard at the recent Locarno International Film Festival), Moon [+see also:
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interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile] Austrian Kurdwin Ayub (Special Jury Prize at the same festival), Holy Cow [+see also:
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interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] by French director Louise Courvoisier (Youth Prize at Un Certain Regard in Cannes), Ghost Trail [+see also:
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interview: Jonathan Millet
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile] and In His Own Image [+see also:
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interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile], by fellow French filmmakers Jonathan Millet and Thierry de Peretti respectively, Ivo [+see also:
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interview: Eva Trobisch and Adrian Cam…
film profile] and Scorched Earth [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Arslan
film profile] by Germans Eva Trobisch and Thomas Arslan respectively, and co-productions such as Viet and Nam [+see also:
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film profile] by Vietnamese Trương Minh Quý.

Germany will be the guest country this year, with films from the New German Cinema (with works by Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but also by lesser-known but equally stimulating female directors such as Elfi Mikesch, Helma Sanders-Brahms and Sohrab Shahid Saless) and titles from the last twenty years such as Ghosts by Christian Petzold; Western [+see also:
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interview: Jonas Dornbach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
interview: Valeska Grisebach
film profile] by Valeska Grisebach and The Forest for the Trees by Maren Ade.

Finally, the fourth edition of the Independent Film Market (MERCI Valladolid), an initiative co-organised by the festival and the Association of Independent Film Distributors (ADICINE), made up of fifteen of Spain's leading distribution companies, will take place from 23 to 25 October. The initiative aims to promote independent and auteur films, bringing their titles to exhibitors, television channels and platforms in order to encourage the public to see these films, as well as enabling and promoting relations between distribution and exhibition professionals.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)