There is one week a year when Albacete becomes especially movie-loving. Independent film screenings, premieres, workshops, training, meetings, activities for the whole family, etc. They take the city of La Mancha. This genius does not come out of nowhere, but is the result of the celebration of Abycine Lanza, a meeting point for those who make Spanish independent audiovisual possible, and Abycine, the film festival of this town. Both are developing these days.
Until October 18, Abycine Lanza opens its doors in Albacete, creating the ideal framework for the different agents of the profession – distributors, television stations, festivals, etc. – to meet and to help Spanish independent directors finance their next projects.
To do this, they are launching two national calls. On the one hand, Impulso CMM Desarrollo is designed for projects that are in the first phase of development, at that time when, in addition to aspiring to the aid and incentives that Abycine Lanza distributes for a total amount of 65,000 euros, it is also seeks the creation of synergies. “That they find alliances with producers from all over the country, with distributors who want to enter this project now or with national or international sales agents and make themselves known in the sector,” explains José Manuel Zamora, director of the Festival, about what that is pursued with this call.
On the other hand, with Impulse Work in Progress (WIP), the focus is, however, on those films that are practically finished. In addition to the financial prizes, “what is sought is that those projects that do not yet have a distributor or sales agent find them in Abycine Lanza, where the presence of festival programmers is also very important,” Zamora summarizes.
And yes, after nine years of work and 26 years of festival, there are many eyes, both national and international, on Abycine Lanza. “We have become a highly respected prescriber and every project that goes through Abycine Lanza “He arrives very armed to get partners and even future public aid.”
Proof of this is the fact that the last two winners of Abycine Launches WIP, The Human Hibernation Projectby Anna Cornudella, and Samsaraby Lois Patiño, will participate in the Berlinale months after passing through the Albacete meeting. Or that already essential titles of Spanish cinema such as 20,000 species of bees —Estibaliz Urresola—, Carmen and Lola —Arantxa Etxebarria— or The girls —Pilar Palomero—, to give just three examples.
Prestige is guaranteed for a project that began its journey at a time when there were not as many development laboratories, talent incubators or financing markets as there are today and that, year after year, has been consolidating to become a reference meeting of the national independent audiovisual sector. All this with the added difficulty of developing a national dimension proposal from a peripheral territory.
“Being in an autonomous community that does not have a great audiovisual tradition nor its audiovisual policies that are excessively clear is a handicap, but the good thing is that Abycine Lanza is done in a city like Albacete is that it is very welcoming and creates in those three days an ideal meeting point and a feeling of community that perhaps in other larger cities would be more difficult,” Zamora summarizes.
Independent cinema for the whole family
Abycine, the Albacete Film Festival that has been held in the city for 26 years, will start on October 17 and will run until the 25th of this month. The starting signal will be the opening ceremony which, presented by Virginia Riezu, will serve to present the actress Eva Llorach with the Young Career Award; and Félix Tusell and Arturo Valls, the Special Award for their work as producers of new talents and comedy formats. In addition, the Malaga Festival will also be awarded for its work supporting Spanish cinema.
During its week-long duration it will be possible to enjoy the programming of its section Abycine Indie“the most authorial, most risky official section, in which we look for those new perspectives within Spanish cinema,” describes Zamora.
In this way, attendees will find premieres such as The InstinctJuan Albarracín’s debut film; From my cold dead handsa documentary by Javier Horcajada; he toxic thrillerby Lorenzo Lerín; Still life with ghosts, by Enrique Buleo; either The Human Hibernationwhich “is presented at the festival because we like to have the films that pass through Abycine Lanza.”
Furthermore, over the years, the My First Abycine section has gained weight. “It is the entire audiovisual literacy effort that the festival makes with young people and children from the province who attend different educational programs to learn about cinematographic and human values.”
Within its framework, mainly international short films can be seen, although some feature films will also be programmed. This is the case of Los Williams, by Raúl de la Fuente; from Princess Mononoke, by Hayao Miyazaki; or Sauvages, by Claude Barras.
To complete a program this round, there will also be its traditional sections Abycine Presenta, Abycine Cortos (the festival is one of the pre-selectors for the Goya in the categories of animation, documentary and fiction) or Made in Castilla-La Mancha.
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