The BCN Film Fest returns with Susan Sarandon and the Neus Català 'biopic'

The seventh edition of the Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival (BCN Film Fest) raises its curtain this Thursday with a program that will bring international names such as Susan Sarandon, Omar Sy, Penelope Wilton, Wim Wenders, and François Ozon to the Catalan capital, without forgetting local talent, with the participation of Laia Costa, Pol López, Nausicaa Bonnín, Vicky Peña, and Sergi López.

"We have worked to make this edition once again a work of art, with a good, interesting, and cultural program," says the festival director, Conxita Casanovas. With its main venue at Verdi cinemas, the BCN Film Fest champions cinema as an art by including nods to other disciplines in its program, such as painting with titles like Esperando a Dalí (2023) with Iván Massagué and Pol López, or Miró (2022) with Pau Roca and Eduardo Lloveras; theater, with the adaptation of A bit of light (2022), starring Anna Paquin, and literature, remembering that it coincides with the celebration of Sant Jordi, with La impaciencia del corazón (2022) based on Stefan Zweig's novel of the same name. "It is a film festival with a C for culture; sometimes it is forgotten that cinema is also culture, not just entertainment," Casanovas emphasizes.

From this Thursday, April 20, until Friday, April 28, a total of 70 films will be screened, 21 of which will be world premieres. The opening film will be Mi crimen, the new intrigue comedy by director François Ozon (Verano del 85, En la casa), who will come to the festival accompanied by the leading actresses Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder. To close the event, Sica, the fiction debut of Catalan director Carla Subirana set in Costa da Morte, will be screened.

The BCN Film Fest will pay tribute to director Wim Wenders, who will receive the honorary award and stars on this year's edition poster with an image of Nastassja Kinski in Paris, Texas (1984). Some of Wenders' titles that will be screened include Alicia en las ciudades (1974), El estado de las cosas (1982), El cielo sobre Berlín (1987) Hasta el fin del mundo (1991), Buena vista social club (1999), and Pina (2011), in addition to Paris, Texas.

Also noteworthy is the screening of Thelma & Louise (1991), a classic that remains current and will be accompanied by a subsequent colloquium featuring one of its protagonists, Susan Sarandon. Also present will be Omar Sy, protagonist of Intouchables, presenting Father & Soldier (2022), a war drama set in World War I to give a face to the invisible ones of the conflict, the Senegalese soldiers; and Penelope Wilton, one of the most popular actresses of Downton Abbey, with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, where she shares the lead with Jim Broadbent, known for Harry Potter or Bridget Jones.

Locally, Un cel de plom (2022) will be screened, the only Catalan film to compete in the Official Section, with Nausicaa Bonnín playing Neus Català based on the book of the same name by Carme Martí. Also, Els encantats (2023) will be screened, Laia Costa's new film after the success of Cinco lobitos, directed by Elena Trapé and accompanied by Daniel Pérez Prada, Aina Clotet and Pep Cruz, or La manzana de oro (2022), Jaime Chávarri's latest title with Sergi López and Vicky Peña.

The organizers of the BCN Film Fest expect to surpass last year's attendance figures, when 17,000 spectators were registered, with some restrictions still in place. In the last edition before the pandemic, in 2019, about 15,000 spectators attended. "It has been like an obstacle course," says the director, who has been leading the project for five years. Casanovas also recalls how at the beginning they had to call production companies to participate and now they receive proposals, they even have to reject some. "Every film has to have a reason and a meaning, the festival has to be comfortable for the public, critics and talent."

The event has a budget of 150,000 euros, with 30% of public resources contributed by the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat. "It falls short for us. The City Council has to truly commit to a festival that can have international repercussions," Casanovas defends. Currently, most of the audience is from Barcelona, without attracting spectators from other parts as happens with other festivals such as San Sebastián.