Ready for an edition of the BCN Film Festival full of cinema, literature, and stars

In its usual coincidence with the dates of Sant Jordi, the BCN Film Festival raises the curtain on its sixth edition with an inaugural session this Thursday full of intentions that, in advance, must be cataloged as good. To begin, a Spanish film, Espejo, espejo, by Marc Crehuet, a comedy about identity crises and problems that will be accompanied during its presentation at the gala by a good part of the artistic team, Natalia de Molina, Santi Millán, Malena Alterio, Betsy Túrnez, Xesc Cabot, Anna Bertran and Juli Fàbregas, in addition to its director.

During the opening ceremony, director Mark Cousins will present the Festival's Honorary Award to Jeremy Thomas, producer of significant films of the last decades, such as The Sheltering Sky, The Last Emperor, Crash or The Dreamers.

In the official selection offered this year, made up of more than twenty titles, there are some that bear the seal of being highly anticipated, such as El comensal, by Ángeles González-Sinde, an adaptation of Gabriela Ybarra's novel about the aftermath of her grandfather's assassination by the ETA terrorist group on her family; JFK: Case Revisited, a documentary by Oliver Stone made with the declassified archives of President Kennedy's assassination; Maigret, by Patrice Leconte, where Gérard Depardieu embodies Georges Simenon's character; Giuseppe Tornatore's portrait, in Ennio: the Maestro, of film music composer Ennio Morricone; or Sinjar, by Anna M. Bofarull, a drama of women and captivities starring Nora Navas… And, finally, other films such as La piel en llamas, by David Martín Porras; Quiero hablar sobre Duras, by Claire Simon; La maniobra de la tortuga, by Juan Miguel del Castillo; Eugénie Grandet, by Marc Dugain, or Culpa, by Ibon Cormezana.

The BCN Film Festival, directed by Conxita Casanovas and held essentially at Cines Verdi, maintains its essence of a link between cinema and literature, and with history, art, and relevant biographies, for another year. Among some of the films that maintain this tense relationship, and scattered throughout the various sections of the program, are titles such as The World Champion, by Aleksey Sidorov, which recreates the legendary chess match between Karpov and Korchnoi; or María Ripoll's latest, Nosotros no nos mataremos con pistolas (We Won't Kill Ourselves with Pistols), based on the work of Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez; or the documentary Napoleón: en el nombre del arte (Napoleon: In the Name of Art), by Giovanni Piscaglia, which explores unprecedented aspects of the character whose death occurred 200 years ago. In addition to a precise review of some of the key films in the history of Asian cinema, with works by directors such as Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, Chen Kaige, or Tsui Hark.

And the premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era, a film directed by Simon Curtis that is a sequel to the celebrated television series, and which will be presented in the Zona Oberta section, could be described as an event. And with even greater interest beforehand, the screening of the first images, as an appetizer, of the films that will be released after the summer by Alberto Rodríguez (Modelo 77) and Jaime Rosales (Girasoles silvestres), with the presence of both directors, has been programmed.

Until the 29th, when the festival will close with the film Pig, by Michael Sarnoski, a thriller starring Nicolas Cage, the BCN Film Festival becomes the cultural center of the city full of activities related to cinema and literature and with the presence of personalities and well-known faces from the seventh art.