Catalonian Film Days

Catalonian and Balearic cinema has been a continual presence at international festivals for several years now. Yet recent Catalonian film production makes strict categorizations difficult. From commercial features to experimental low-budget documentaries, a wide range of different approaches are being explored and implemented, including colorful enterprises such as Los Pasos Doubles by Isaki Lacuesta or the Oscar-nominated Pa Negre (Agustí Villaronga). This new diversity can be put down to a new generation of filmmakers, many of whom studied at the Escola Superior d’Audiovisuals de Catalunya. They are aware of their audiences without losing sight of what makes their films original. They are also open to international co-productions and have no qualms at working in different languages. Catalonian cinema can look back on a long history and also looks to the future full of confidence. The Institut Ramon Llull is organizing this series of representative films in collaboration with Arsenal with the aim of presenting new Catalonian cinema in all its diversity. The program takes in films from the past three years taken from different movements in Catalonian film which were awarded prizes at festival but have received little distribution beyond that. (Núria Vidal, curator)