In San Sebastián, the seventh art runs through its veins. Currently, there are two generations of fans like Jesús María Fernández Gómez, who, more than a film buff, considers himself an amateur. I consulted it because it is surprising how this city lives it and continually sees new proposals.
He speaks about the subject with ease; in his youth he was a member of a film club in Rentería, a neighboring town. He says that it is one of his passions, he is a doctor by profession and lives in Asturias. He usually comes every year, specifically at this time, to enjoy the beach, the warm rays of the sun at the beginning of autumn, eat pintxos, and of course, see what “José Luis has prepared. Always look for topics that may interest us. The social issue, for example,” he says.
Fernández Gómez refers to José Luis Rebordinos, the director of the Festival, another member of that mythical film club, a friend from his youth and a Renterian, as they call those from Rentería. He remembers that there were cinemas, like in the rest of the region, but they have been disappearing. They are concentrated in shopping centers and in San Sebastián, capital of Guipúzcoa, of the three regions of the Basque Country.
The Zinemaldia, San Sebastián festival in Basque, SSIFF, for its acronym in English, closed last night, after eight days of celebrations and awards. There are no figures yet, but last year it received 160 thousand spectators; San Sebastián has 180 thousand inhabitants. He projected more than 200 works on 700 screens in the city. And five thousand accredited attended.
In the opinion of Fernández Gómez, who watches up to three movies a day, the attendance is higher than last year, when he easily found tickets. In this 72nd edition we are left wanting to see ‘Emilia Pérez’, the story of a lawyer in the process of sex change. At Cannes she was awarded the Jury Prize and the award for best actress.
He was moved by ‘Modigliani’ or ‘Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness’ directed by Johnny Depp, out of competition, based on an idea by Al Pacino. It tells three chaotic days of the artist Amedeo Clemente Modigliani in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. XX. “It’s very pretty,” says my interviewee about the feature film of the American chameleon, who came to this city and pretended to be Jack Sparrow for the children at the hospital.
Another of his favorites was ‘Le dernier soufflé/Last Breath’ by the world-renowned Costa Gravas. It struck a chord with him, as it would, he adds, with the writer and the doctor who philosophize about the terminal state and palliative care. “It is not at all morbid or banal. “It’s great.” From the 91-year-old Greek director, he has seen several films on sociopolitical issues from his country.
The performance of the multi-award-winning Mariane Jean-Baptiste, the protagonist of ‘Hard Truths/My only family’, amazed him. Her role “is unpleasant, always angry,” she says. He hopes the film reaches the general public. He highlights that the festival is an opportunity to see films that may not be shown again.
I ask about one of the controversies, there are always several, ‘Tardes de Soledad’, by director Albert Serra with the bullfighter Roca Rey. The author not only sees with a magnifying glass the paraphernalia of bullfighting, idiosyncrasies and rituals, costumes of lights with spectacular embroidery. It also portrays fear, temper, vanity. He remains attentive to the bull, approaches his body, muscles, last breath and rictus. Impact.
It is anti-bullfighting and a unique work on the subject, critics Elisa McCausland and Diego Salgado summarize for me. They pushed me to see it and I am grateful. It moved me and it did it with everyone, in fact, a few hours ago it won the Golden Shell, the festival’s highest award.
I hope that what is recommended by the experts and Jesús María Fernández Gómez are presented in Mexico, where cinema is also part of our DNA.
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