news

An Official Section full of top figures in European cinema

Albert Serra, Roy Andersson, Abel Ferrara, Marco Bellocchio, Robert Guédiguian and Bruno Dumont will compete in Seville with their latest works
Jessica Hausner, Pietro Marcello, Eloy Enciso and João Nicolau complete in an Official Section full of top figures in European cinema
These 10 directors join the already announced ones a few weeks ago: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Elia Suleiman, Nadav Lapid, Teona Strugar, Corneliu Porumboiu, Justine Triet, Valentin Vasyanovych and Lorenzo Mattotti, whose latest works will be presented in a exclusive premiere in Spain
 

Albert Serra, Roy Andersson, Marco Bellocchio, Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont... some of the best directors in Europe will be in the Official Section of the Seville European Film Festival, which today completed its 16th edition competition. Entertaining, historical or enigmatic. As in the first announcement, these newly published productions, reflect on the cultural diversity of Europe through bold and powerful cinema, celebrated in the major international film festivals abroad and which transports the spectator to unusual settings. Big names, such as the legendary Abel Ferrara, and other already announced remarkable figures such as Elia Suleiman and Nadav Lapid, will be competing Seville from November 8 to 16, to participate in one of the Festival’s editions with the greatest number of international guests.

The new film masters in Seville

'Little Joe' is a surprising twist in the filmography of Austrian Jessica Hausner's winner of the Golden Giraldillo with 'Lourdes'. Starring Emily Beecham ('Hail, Caesar'!), Best Actress at Cannes, and Ben Wishaw ('Lobster', 'The Danish Girl', 'Skyfall'), it tells the story of a biologist who, after creating a plant in the laboratory which brings happiness to its owner, takes it home as a gift for her son. This film reflects on the necessity to be happy through drama and science fiction, philosophy and comedy, analysis and evocation. 

A unmissable master, Abel Ferrara ('Bad Lieutenant'), will be in the Official Section with 'Tommaso', a story in which he depicts the obsessions and anxieties of an American filmmaker living in Rome. A visceral portrait of a tortured mind in which Ferrara once again trusts on Willem Dafoe to embody the main character as in 'Pasolini'.

Robert Guédiguian ('The Town is Quiet') won the Best Actress Award for his muse Ariane Ascaride in Venice with 'Gloria Mundi'. The film portrays the new labor conflicts and returns to the essential issues of his filmography: the analysis of capitalism through its consequences, such as unemployment or precarious work. The film follows the reunion of a Marseille family after the birth of a girl and the release of her grandfather from prison.

Italian director Pietro Marcello's ('Lost and Beautiful') adaptation of Jack London's novel 'Martin Eden' has been critically acclaimed in Venice, where actor Luca Marinelli won the Volpi Cup. A monumental piece about the social rise of a young sailor who wants to be a writer, where past and present cross with an extraordinary lyrical force, and that possesses the virtue of elevating the depth of a masterful literary story.   

A Glance at our History: From the French Revolution to the Sicilian Mafia

The Special Jury Prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard Section, 'Liberté' means the return to SEFF of the renowned director Albert Serra ('Honour of the Knights'). In the years before the French Revolution, a group of libertines fleeing from the government of Louis XVI try to export to Germany their philosophy based on the rejection of morality and authority. The sexual drive is the axis of this playful and hypnotic piece, with which Serra continues his radical revision of aristocracy throughout history.

After winning the best film award of the New Waves section at the Seville European Film Festival in 2013 with the stunning film 'Arraianos', Eloy Enciso presents a dark and sensorial work in 'Longa noite', with  the outstanding image composed by DOP Mauro Herce ('Dead Slow Ahead'). Using various texts, the film, that competed in Locarno's International Section, narrates memories of the Franco's repression era following Anxo's return to his native Galicia after the Civil War.

Nominated to represent Italy at the Oscars, with 'The Traitor', the great director Marco Bellocchio ('Good Morning, Night') explores the story of Tommaso Buscetta, the first chief of the Sicilian mafia to become a pentito - ex-members of criminal organizations that collaborate with the justice system. The testimony of this historical character before Judge Giovanni Falcone, in one of the most publicised trials in the history of Italy, allowed the prosecution of more than 1,400 people and served to uncover many aspects of the mafia unknown until that date. A tense political thriller which already has a prominent place in the filmography on the Cosa Nostra.

Following 'Jeannette' (2017), 'Joan of Arc' – winner of the Special Mention in Cannes' Director's Fornight- is Bruno Dumont's free adaptation of  Charles Péguy's 'Domrémy'. A film that blends realistic and avant-garde drama, with a musical backdrop by French singer Christophe, portraying the young girl as she takes charge of her country's army.

Two cult comedies

The Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson was honored in the last edition of the Seville European Film Festival, and world premiered nearly 30 minutes of 'About Endlessness'. The film, which received the Silver Lion for Best Direction in Venice and is inspired by 'The Thousand and One Nights', is a hypnotic comedy with a bitter aftertaste that explores the absurdity of society, composed by scenes from different stages of the human life.

The production company O Som e a Fúria (responsible for the latest works by Miguel Gomes, Ira Sachs, Lucrecia Martel and F.J. Ossang, among others) brings 'Technoboss' to Seville, a comedy with incursions into the musical genre with which the Portuguese filmmaker Joao Nicolau ('John From', The New Waves 2016) competed in Locarno. The commercial director of a security company counts the days until his retirement behind the wheel of his car, singing about what he sees around him, a film in which the director once again shows off his irreverence, this time through a character with a punk touch who resists to surrender.

All these names join the first eight films already announced in the Official Section which will be opened by 'Mother', Rodrigo Sorogoyen's long awaited newest work. As well as the already announced, 'It must be heaven' by Elia Suleiman; 'Synonyms' by Nadav Lapid; 'God exists, his name is Petrunya' by Teona Strugar Mitevska will also be competing; Corneliu Porumboiu's 'La Gomera'; Justine Triet's 'Sibyl'; Valentyn Vasyanovych's 'Atlantis'; and Lorenzo Mattotti's 'The famous bear invasion in Sicily'.