It seems that it´s time for festivals again!!

This has also been an atypical summer: we´re trying to go back to normal but we know – or most of us know – that the current situation is still far from being normal. In this context, holding events such as film festivals seems a step further towards achieving the sought-after normality. The 74^th Cannes Film Festival which is usually held in May took place last July but the 78^th Venice International Film Festival and the San Sebastian International Film Festival have taken place this September according to schedule.

In relation to these festivals, I would like to draw our attention to some relevant facts which have happened these days. For instance, the fact that the film “Madres paralelas” (Parallel Mothers) by Pedro Almodóvar got a ten-minute standing ovation from the audience who watched the premiere of the film or that the actress Penélope Cruz won the “Coppa Volpi” for best actress for her performance in that film. However, the anecdote that really gripped my attention the most was related to the director Paolo Sorrentino whose film The Hand of God is based on his own life. When he was a teenager, his parents were killed by a gas leak. Sorrentino should have been with them but he preferred to watch Diego Maradona play for his local team, Napoli, and that fact – attending the local stadium – saved his life. The Hand of God is Sorrentino´s most personal film and the director´s response to one of his friends who once told him that he never dealt with personal issues in his films.

In San Sebastian Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp have been awarded the Donostia life-time achievement accolade and this year the festival has decided that there will be only one award for the best leading performance regardless of whether that performance belongs to an actor or an actress. This decision has been a bit controversial and obviously, arguments for and against this view can be found so deciding which view to support is up to you!

One of the films that has been premiered at the 67^th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival is Maixabel, directed by Icíar Bollaín. Maixabel tells us a story based on real events which is part of our recent history, the one that has to do with terrorism. As the director of the film points out, during the shooting of the film the cast of actors felt a very special emotion as they were aware that this was not an ordinary film.

Finally, I ´d like to pay attention to the fact that the Spanish director Mario Camus died yesterday at the age of 86. At the 33^rd Berlin Film festival, in1983, he won the Golden Bear for his film “La Colmena” (The Beehive), based on the novel by Camilo José Cela. He also directed “Los santos inocentes “(Holy Innocents), the drama based on the famous novel by Miguel Delibes or the TV series Fortunata and Jacinta, a TV adaptation of Benito Pérez Galdós´s classic as well as Lorca´s  La casa de Bernarda Alba. In 2011 Mario Camus won an honoray Goya award and it was then that he claimed that a film does not belong to a single author but to an entire team of 50 people who really make the film. The film-maker donated his personal archive to the Centre of Education for adults in Santander, the city where he was born.

 This September is full of news as it used to be. We can´t deny that we missed the red carpets, not the carpets themselves – of course – but what they bring about so let´s hope the future is full of red carpets again!!

World Book and Copyright Day 2021

 

I must tell you that I´m really happy: I was looking forward to this day!! My remembrance of last year is totally different: World Book Day couldn´t be celebrated under normal circumstances because we had been placed on lockdown due to the pandemic. Obviously, celebrating this red-letter day wasn´t a priority at the time and doing without celebrations has just become normal and merely a collateral effect in the framework of a medical emergency that has affected us worldwide.

We are still immersed in the pandemic but this year we are free to visit our favourite bookshops. Some of us are still reluctant to hold books in our hands and to smell the scent of brand new paper. A physical barrier has emerged between our eagerness to read and our face masks but we have also learnt that cautiousness has become our ally over the last months.

Even if bookshops and libraries were closed, it seems that the number of readers grew noticeably last year thanks to the pandemic so you see, every cloud has a silver lining.

As usual, I must recall that the industry of cinema is indebted to literature and that´s why I feel the need to write about this red-letter day every year. When I look back and I think of lockdown, I have very few nice memories but one is linked to viewing the film Brooklyn (2015). That evening I stopped thinking about my worries and I just focused on the life of Eilis Lacey, wonderfully played by Saoirse Ronan. That night, through that character, I travelled to Ireland and to New York in the societies of the 1950s and I went through the dilemmas of a young Irish girl while I was – on lockdown – at home. We can´t underestimate the transforming power of the cinema to change our lives regardless of how ephemeral that change can be. By the way, Brooklyn is based on the novel of the same name written by the Irish author Colm Tóibín. The novel was published in 2009 and, in 2012, it was described as one of the 10 best historical novels by the British newspaper The Observer.

Today, just celebrate World Book Day as you wish. Feel free to ramble near the book stalls – there are fewer this year – or go to your local bookshop o just stay at home and read for a while or watch a film based on one of your favourite books. This pandemic has deprived us of many things, don´t let it deprive you of the pleasure of living other lives.

Goodbye to Christopher Plummer!

 

This atypical Christmas …

I suppose that we all feel that we are not living just our usual Christmastime. Most cities have put up their Christmas lights and decorations everywhere as if we kept on leading our ordinary lives and in a way we do so but at the same time we can´t pretend that life goes on as usual. Our everyday lives are now shaped by the social restrictions that are imposed on us, we must avoid meeting friends, especially the friends we haven´t seen for a long time and we must also avoid having family gatherings, both types of gatherings are typical of this time of the year.

I could write about other small pleasures we have been deprived of during this rainy and cold weather which is usually the festive season but I prefer to write about the comfort we can find in the cinema in order to counteract the consequences of this horrendous pandemic. Even if you don´t feel like going to the cinema – because it doesn´t matter how often others tell you that going to the cinema is safe, you must feel it yourself – you can always resort to a good story which is told from the point of view of a new or an old film-maker. It seems that the pandemic has made many people become hooked on films thanks to the numerous TV and digital platforms which are now available so a new way of watching films has become even more popular over the last months. The other day I read an interview with Isabel Coixet –  recipient of the 2020 National Film Award – in  which she spoke about this. She welcomed the idea but I couldn´t agree with her more when she said that the experience will never be the same, that is, going to the cinema is a complete experience which involves watching a film but goes beyond that. I guess that´s really what the term cinemagoer means, what´s the term for someone who enjoys watching films but never goes to the cinema? Is there a term for that? Of course, “cinema buff ”or “cinemaphile” or just “film lover” are inclusive or general  terms but I just hope we´ll continue to use the term “cinemagoer” in the future. 

If you decide to go to the cinema, you can watch one of the few releases of the last months: The Father, a film about living with senile dementia. It is a drama performed by two wonderful British actors – Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman – and the subject matter of the film may be not appealing to you but according to reviews, if you can bear to watch a story which may resemble your family life too much, then the experience will stay with you.

 I hope you will invest in new cinematic experiences in the future – and not just in binge-watching at home – because it will endow you with lasting and vivid memories and life´s about memories. And above all, I wish you new ordinary Christmases in the future.

Merry Christmas and happy and healthy New Year!!

Christmas scene from Little Women (1994), one year ago we could watch the new version by Greta Gerwig in our cinemas.

Goodbye to Sean Connery!

 

“Cinema is a safe place”

Some of the people who were attending the 68^th edition of San Sebastian film festival were wearing face masks with the message “cinema is a safe place” because obviously the priority of the organisers of the festival was to make clear that cinema was a safe environment and the second priority was “to offer as pleasant a cinematic experience as possible”, which is the main aim of any film festival in the world.  Fewer attendees, fewer journalists, fewer spectators, fewer venues, fewer screenings, a completely different red carpet, a carpet without fans asking film stars for autographs or selfies… regardless of all that, the festival has been held as usual and that´s the best way of knowing that we´re really going back to normal. The 77^th Venice International Film Festival also took place at the beginning of September but the 73^rd Cannes Film festival which was to take place last May had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic; that´s why José Luis Rebordinos – the director of the festival – can be pleased and even proud as they have managed to keep the spirit of the festival alive and make the public become interested in the films that have been shown in the same way as in the previous editions.

Rifkin´s Festival, which was shot in San Sebastián last year, was premiered on 18^th September. The Spanish actress Elena Anaya plays one of the main roles of the film and as she explained in a recent interview, Woody Alllen´s last film is a real tribute to cinema. 

This year Viggo Mortensen has been presented with the Donostia award. The American film star has also made his debut as a film director thanks to Falling, a family drama whose leading roles are played by Lance Henriksen and the actor himself, who also wrote the screenplay.

Perhaps you haven´t been able to attend the film festival but the films which have been premiered these days will be on at your local cinema very soon so you´ll have the opportunity of watching them if you feel like discovering other people, other lives and even other countries. As for me, I´m looking forward to watching Woody Allen´s new film, a film which was being shot while I was visiting the city.