Under the motto ‘Get kidnapped’, the festival will take place from November 20 to 26 at the El Batel Auditorium and the Cartagena Cultural Center
The Cartagena International Film Festival (FICC) offers more than 60 national and international films in its 51st edition. This was confirmed on Monday by Mayor Noelia Arroyo during the presentation of the event, which will take place from November 20 to 26 at the El Batel Auditorium and the Cultural Center under the slogan “Get kidnapped” with directors such as Hirokazu Korreda or Jordi Núñez, between a long list with numerous nationalities.
The award ceremony at City Hall was also attended by the Councilor for Culture, David Martínez Noguera; the president of the FICC, Nacho Ros; the secretary of the event, Cristina Roca; María José Espín, from the festival programming team; and other members of the Corporation such as Álvaro Valdesueiro and María José Soler.
The mayor explained that the event, born in 1972 as Naval Film Week, “has been held continuously for half a century, becoming the film festival with the longest history in the Murcia region and one of the oldest in Spain”. For example, he recalled the commitment made by the city council, which has not taken a break during the pandemic. In this line, he emphasized that it is “a pride for our city to celebrate a festival that brings Cartagena a careful selection of the best national and international cinema, and a proposal of parallel activities for all tastes and ages.”
The FICC also has “that calling to encourage our society to consume culture and that Cartagena remains a benchmark in the cultural field,” said Arroyo, insisting that this commitment is one of the “strategic axes on which we continue to work.” , with initiatives such as the FICC, La Mar de Músicas or the Cartagena Jazz Festival.
The poster for this edition depicts a girl who appears to have been kidnapped. “The campaign is inspired by the iconic ‘Area 51’ and we equate the light of the ship with that of the screen, because we want the audience to be kidnapped by the FICC and the protagonist of our festival,” emphasized Nacho Ros, president of the competition. For its part, the competition secretary, Cristina Roca, thanked the cooperation of all sponsors and the involvement of the Consistory, since “for 51 editions, the FICC has the unconditional support of the Cartagena City Council.”
The 51st edition opens its program on November 20 in the El Batel auditorium with ‘Broker’, the latest film by Japanese director Hirozaku Kore-eda and starring Song Kang-ho, the main character of ‘Parasites’, winner of the prize for Best Actor at the last Cannes festival. In addition, it will feature the latest offerings from Spanish cinema with Jordi Núñez’s ‘El queSabem’, which opened Mostra de Valencia in October. The screening on October 22 at 9:00 PM will be attended by Jordi Núñez, Marcos Lledó, producer, and Javier Amann, lead actor.
European cinema is also on the program with screenings such as ‘Holy Spider’ by the Swedish-Iranian director Ali Abbasi; ‘The Rebel Empress’, by Marie Kreutze or ‘Triangle of Sorrow’, by Ruben Östlund, among others. The official short film section will feature 10 works selected from the more than 600 submitted. These will be screened in the El Batel Auditorium, prior to the screenings of the feature film section.
The Ramón Alonso Luzzy Cultural Center, which offers all its screenings for free, will be the place where the documentaries of the Europa.Doc section will be screened, in this edition dedicated to the environment and nature. The ‘Young Fans’ cycle will also be held in the same room. In addition, on Friday the 25th, the “short amateur youth” will be shown on a large screen, made by students from various educational centers in the region. In addition to the projections, workshops on various topics are given.
The closing ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 26 at 8 p.m. with the award ceremony. The FICC Award goes to Jaime Chávarri, “one of the most recognized Spanish directors of his generation, who has worked to preserve our cinema, battling strong economic and censorship problems,” said the festival’s director, Nacho Ros.
On the other hand, the FICC Prize for Cinematographic Diffusion will be received by María Guerra, current president of the Association of Cinematographic Reporters of Spain, and host of the LaScript podcast.
Tickets for screenings in the El Batel auditorium cost 3.5 euros, while vouchers for six films cost 18 euros.
Source: La Verdad
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