SIGOURNEY WEAVER, ISABELLE HUPPERT, NAOMI WATTS, KIYOSHI KUROSAWA AND NICOLAS WINDING REFN, STARS OF THE BCN FILM FEST 2021

The Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival (BCN FILM FEST), which this year takes place from 15 to 23 April at the Cinemes Verdi in Barcelona as its main venue, has presented this morning the official poster for its 5th edition and the first confirmed news of its programming. The event was presented by the director of BCN FILM FEST, the journalist and film critic Conxita Casanovas and the Director of RTVE in Catalonia, Pere Buhigas and Cristina Muñoz, boss of the Documentary Department at TV3.
 
"This year will be a particularly important edition because we hope to confirm that the festival continues to grow vigorously, healthily and solidly," said Conxita Casanovas at the presentation of the 5th edition of the festival. "I think we can help people get back into the routine of going to the movies and the audience regains the confidence to see movies in theaters," he added.
 
The BCN FILM FEST, faithful to the cultural spirit of Sant Jordi, once again offers films that revolve around the thematic axis Cinema-Literature-History within the Official Section, focusing mainly on literary adaptations, biopics of great personalities and historical events of relevance.
 
As in previous editions, the Festival will have 6 sections: Official Selection, Cinema amb Gràcia (dedicated to comedies), Zona Oberta, Art en Pantalla (dedicated to great art documentaries), Imprescindibles (dedicated to classics of author, this year by Charles Chaplin) and a section dedicated to the cinema of a guest country, in this edition: Japan by CineAsia.
 
“We are making a great effort to carry out the festival in person with international talent of the level of Nicolas Winding Refn, who has confirmed his attendance. And we are very grateful to the distributors who bet on the BCN FILM FEST in this new edition, which allows us to present a big variety of very attractive titles in a very complicated year to elaborate programming ”, has emphasized Casanovas.

The director also remarked that “having Chaplin on the poster on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of El Chico and dedicating the retrospective gives us the opportunity to recover a spirit and a look full of tenderness and humor that I think comes to us a lot well in the current moment that we are living ”.
 
 
OFFICIAL POSTER
 
The official poster for BCN FILM FEST 2021 pays homage to Charles Chaplin's first feature film, THE KID (El chico) in the centenary of its release. The image of little Jackie Coogan from the Chaplin classic, in a room, as if fascinated by the film being projected on a screen that only he can see, also seeks to vindicate the power and magic of cinema at a time like current, in which, as we say in the festival spot, we seem to need it more than ever.

The centenary THE KID (El chico) is the reason that has led us to dedicate our Essentials section to Charles Chaplin, with a comprehensive retrospective of his filmography that includes 10 films and 7 short films. The poster design is by Joel B. Garcia of VECTOR WHO.
 
 
OFFICIAL SPOT

The spot engages in a kind of dialogue with the festival poster. An accomplice dialogue between pioneers of cinema: the icon of the character created by Chaplin and the symbol that represents the origin of everything, the cinema of the Lumière brothers. A spot that evokes and reaffirms the need for cinema as a quintessential popular art, both in the time when it was invented, more than 100 years ago, and in the difficult times we have to live today. The design of the spot is by Paco Ruíz. See the spot
 
 
ADVANCEMENT OF THE FIRST TITLES OF THE BCN FILM FEST 2021

The 5th edition of the festival will have a program of more than 50 titles among its different sections. Here is a first preview of the schedule:

OFfICIAL SELECTION IN COMPETITION

LA DARONNE 
By Jean-Paul Salomé / With Isabelle Huppert, Hippolyte Girardot
France / Spanish Première

PENGUIN BLOOM
By Glendyn Ivin / With Naomi Watts, Andrew Lincoln, Jacki Weaver
Australia, United States / Spanish Première

PETIT PAYS 
By Eric Barbier / With Jean-Paul Rouve
France, Belgium / Spanish Première
  
SOMBRA By Bruno Gascon 
Portugal / Première española

MY SALIMGER YEAR
By Philippe Falardeau / With Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver
Canada, Irland / Spanish Première

THE GOOD TRAITOR (Bordes mand y Amerika) 
By Christina Rosendahl / With Ulrich Thomsen 
Denmark / Spanish Première

YALDA, A NIGHT FOR FORGIVENESS
De Massoud Bakhshi
Irán, Francia / Spanish Première

OFFICIAL SELECTION (OUT OF COMPETITION)

LA MUJER DEL ESPÍA (Wife of a spy)
By Kiyoshi Kurosawa 
Japan / Catalan Première

PAOLO CONTE, VÍA CON ME
By Giorgio Verdelli
Italy / Catalan Première

CINEMA AMB GRÀCIA

BLITHE SPIRIT
By Edward Hall / With Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher, Judi Dench
United Kingdom / Spanish Première

EL TRIUNFO (Un triomphe)
By Emmanuel Courcol / Con Kad Merad
France / Première catalana

OPEN ZONE

VALHALLA RISING (2009)
By Nicolas Winding Refn / Con Mads Mikkelsen
Denmark, United Kingdom

IMPRESCINDIBLES  – CENTENARY THE KID, RETROSPECTIVE CHARLES CHAPLIN

EL CHICO (1921)

UNA MUJER DE PARÍS (1923)

LA QUIMERA DE ORO (1925)

EL CIRCO (1928)

LUCES DE LA CIUDAD (1931)

TIEMPOS MODERNOS (1936)

EL GRAN DICTADOR (1940)

MONSIEUR VERDOUX (1947)

CANDILEJAS (1952)

UN REY EN NUEVA YORK (1957)

Cortometrajes:

VIDA DE PERRO (1918)

¡ARMAS AL HOMBRO! (1918)

AL SOL (1919)

UN DÍA DE JUERGA (1919)

VACACIONES (1921)

DÍA DE PAGA (1922)

EL PEREGRINO (1923)

THE JURY

The 5th edition of the BCN FILM FEST will feature the versatile film and theater director and actor Mario Gas as President of the Jury. Awarded the 1996 National Theater Prize of Catalonia and appointed Director of the Spanish Theater in 2004, as a film actor he has forged an extensive career with more than 30 films to his credit. He has worked with great directors such as Vicente Aranda, Bigas Luna, Berlanga or Ventura Pons, and recently we have seen him at “La Vampira de Barcelona”. As a dubbing actor he is the regular voice of actors like Ben Kingsley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy or John Malkovich.

Actress Laia Marull, with three Goyas, Best New Actress for her role in "Fugitivas", Best Actress for "Te doy mis ojos" and Best Supporting Actress for "Pa Negre" and director Jaume Balagueró complete the jury of this fifth edition. Balagueró is one of the forerunners of Spanish horror cinema and is responsible for titles such as “Los sin nombre”, the “Rec” saga, “Frágiles”, “Mientras duermes” and “Way Down”, the latest work that is pending release.

PARALLEL ACTIVITIES OF THE FESTIVAL

As in previous editions, the festival will complete its program with talks and diferents colloquis. The parallel activities of the festival will be free. All the information of the parallel activities will be released during the month of March. A first preview.

>> Face-to-Face discussion with the director Nicolas Winding Ref

>> Charles Chaplin Colloquium - On the occasion of the EL CHICO Centenary, a colloquium of specialists will be held with the participation of Carmen Chaplin, granddaughter of Charles Chaplin, who will present the first images of the documentary: “Charlie Chaplin, A Man of the World”.

>> 4th Day of Screenwriters and Industry with the collaboration of PROA.

>> Book presentations related to cinema and history, with the collaboration of Penguin Random House and FNAC.

TICKETS AT € 2.90 AND FREE SESSIONS

The festival will continue with a price of € 2.90 for most of the Verdi cinemas sessions and with free Essentials (Charles Chaplin retrospective) sessions in various civic centers in the city of Barcelona. A popular and open festival in the city.

In this LINK  you can retrieve the summary video of the 2020 edition of the BCN FILM FEST that had more than 8,000 spectators (despite capacity restrictions due to Covid19).

The accreditation process for the press and industry for the fifth edition of the BCN FILM FEST will begin on February 12 and will end on March 12, 2021.

BCN FILM FEST will comply with all health and safety measures, as well as the maximum capacity established by law at the time of the festival.

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