The cinema remains a fixture in El Comtat, known also as the capital city Cherrywith, where an old 35 millimeter projector still sits idle between screenings. For a few days the town plans to bridge its cinema gap with La Cirera Cinema Show. Scheduled for October 21 and 22, the program brings audiences to Auditori Abate Juan Andrés, inviting the community to reawaken cultural life amid the province of Alicante’s ecological heartland.
With a population around 700, this mountain town in Alicante invites visitors to slow down and enjoy cinema that reflects rural life, ecology, and the surrounding environment. The 2022 Sundance entry Don’t Be Ashamed by Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza will be featured, with the filmmaker coming to Planes to discuss a film that centers on drought and a Quechua elder couple who inhabit the narrative with quiet dignity.
The lineup also includes Alcarràs, the Berlinale’s best film of 2022 by Carla Simón, and This, which Oriola-born Elena López Riera presented at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2022. Luna Pamies, the lead in This, will participate in Planes, and attendees can anticipate the appearance of Mar Lupiáñez, who stars in Island. The festival anticipates a discussion with Estíbaliz Urresola and a short film program that explores environmental themes, frequently accompanied by practical workshops and music, along with a colloquium and tastings from local producers.
The poster art is complemented by a short environmental cycle from Ecofilms, enhanced by workshops, music, discussions, and tastes of products from nearby farms.
Carla Vidal and Juan F. Navarro spearhead the project, while supporters such as El Bancal del Capellà and La Peluquería helped spark the idea of bringing a small rural cinema back to life. Carla, the director and content creator for La Cirera, works with Planes City Hall to supervise this cultural initiative, aided by a subsidy from the Provincial Council of Alicante amounting to 12,000 euros to activate it.
The team notes they were given summer time to design the program, with pre-selection and content curation guided by collaborators with festival experience. Films blend fiction with reality, offering narrative depth while inviting reflection on the planet’s future and the role of youth in rural communities. The overarching debate concerns scarce resources and sustainable management through the exhibition’s span, suggesting that the future of rural life will be shaped by generations to come.
The event is completely free, and screenings are limited to the auditorium’s 250-seat capacity. The poster, created by Luis Demano, highlights the town’s landscapes and corners with cherry-tree motifs from Planes.
From Capellà Terrace to the cinema among the cherry trees
La Cirera Film Festival sits alongside prior cultural experiments in the region, a project area that began with Carla Vidal and the mathematician-artist Juan F. Navarro. They unveiled a small plot of land a year and a half ago for Capella Terrace, an outdoor space hosting exhibitions, readings, and musical projects in a sustainable, environmentally minded setting. Although operations paused in recent months, the initiative is expected to resume next spring, likely with a collective exhibition aligned with the Cherry Blossom theme.