Valencia’s cultural vision receives a strong push through the Valencia Institute of Culture, which encourages local audiovisual professionals and productions to participate in competition sections at the Cannes Film Festival. The annual event runs from mid-May, with the Marché du Film market segment occupying the festival’s industrial zone from mid-May. Among the 25 Valencian professionals accredited to the Marché du Film are Francesc Felipe, Assistant Director of Audiovisual and Cinematography at IVC, and Daniel Méndez, newly appointed director of gloVAL.
Francesc Felipe noted that IVC is joining the Marché du Film for the first time in a very special Cannes edition, where Spain is the guest country. This initial participation will be supported technically and logistically by the Valencia Audio-Visual Academy, enabling AVAV to promote Valencia’s audiovisual sector and professionals abroad through the newly established gloVAL, Valencia’s audiovisual broadcasting office abroad.
The Valencian Community will participate under the umbrella of ICEX (Cinema from Spain), and exhibitors will have dedicated stands at the market for Valencian professionals. The aim is to make Valencian audiovisual productions and professionals highly visible at Marché du Film as ambassadors of Spain’s creative output.
Four productions on display
Co-produced by the Valencian company Elàstica Films, a film directed by actor and filmmaker Elena Martin has been selected for the Official Section of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, highlighting Valencian talent on an international stage.
Valencian animated cinema will be showcased at Marché du Film through the Annecy Goes to Cannes initiative, which selected a feature film this year. The project is supported by IVC and produced by Maria Trenor of Alicante-based Jaibo Films, with production assistance from IVC.
In the Spanish Screenings Go to Cannes segment, Lobas, directed by Pau Calpe and co-produced by Dacsa Productions, features a post-production project supported by IVC.
A documentary titled A Tree is a Tree, produced by Suica Movies, relates to Carlos Marqués-Marcet and Aleix Plademunt and is featured in the Docs Cannes section of Marché du Film.
Movies from VLC in Cannes
A digital catalog of Valencia and VLC productions, including material from Alicante, will be available on the AVAV and IVC websites. Attendees will find project information and a video library associated with Valencian productions.
The lineup includes fifteen Valencian fiction features, including Bull Run in search of international buyers and distributors, a project led by Ana Ramon Rubio of Cosabona Films; dystopian themes from Samuel Sebastian; Juice by Elena López Riera of Suica Films; Unemployment Club by David Marquis of Sunrise Pictures; Mud by Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta of Sunrise Pictures; In Low Season by David Marquis of TV on Productions; Quan Doesn’t Finish the Night by Oscar Montón of Morvedre Audiovisuals and Dacsa Productions; Somnis by Carlos Abad Tent of Pi Art Productions; Tuscany by Pau Dura of Gaia Audiovisual; You Are Not Me by Marisa Crespo and Moises Romera of Project Films; Vasil by Avelina Prat of Different Movies; Kepler Sixth B by Alejandro Suarez Lozano of Turanga Films; Llobas by Pau Calpe of Dacsa Productions; Days of the Night by Angel Puado of Dramedia; and Oblivion by Agnes Paris of Dahlia Movies.
The Valencian documentary lineup includes Carceller, a film about The Man Who Died Twice by Ricardo Macian of Mediterranean Media Entertainment; Sunday, Sunday by Laura Garcia Andreu of Suica Films and Studio Nominum; Emerging Signs featuring Rosana Pastor from Gorgos Films and Mediterráneo Media Entertainment; Montesinos explores the mythic threads with Laura Big; A Lifetime by Martha Romero of Proyecta Films and Distinto Films; and non-human subjects in Person (Non-Human) by Alejandro Cuéllar and Rafa G. Sánchez from Dacsa Productions. Additional titles include Soc filla de ma mare by Laura Garcia Perez of Tarannà Films and Animals pel camí del mig by Manuel Galipienso of Oceania Films.
In development, projects include Blessed Mary presented at Cannes by Victoria Perez of TV ON Productions; Still Life with Ghosts by Enrique Buleo and produced by Alejandra Mora of Quatre Films; Karen & Julia directed by Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta and produced by Jorge Acosta for Camino a Garaitondo AIE; L’aguait directed by Mark Ortiz and produced by Victoria Pérez for Admirable Films; Baby by Gaby Ochoa and produced by Paloma Mora for TV ON Producciones; Little Calvaries directed by Javier and Guillermo Polo and produced by Borja Aracil of Los Hermanos Polo; Discovery of Europe by Antonio Ferreira of Different Movies; Feminine Singular by Xavi Puebla of Gaia Audiovisuals; and L’àvia i el foraster presented by Miralles of Aire de Cinema, Alhena Production.
Documentary projects in development include Abyss of Oblivion by Michael Batiste of Document Productions; Chronicle Team. Trench Art by Rafael Sesa and Felipe Villaplana, produced by Laura Grande for Estrela Audiovisual and Zootropo Studio; Marshal by Laura Big of Audio-Visual Star; Paco Roca Draws Life directed by Michael Batiste and produced by Docu Producciones, with involvement from Laura Pérez Gómez and Rafael Casañ and produced by Jorge Acosta for Inaudita.
Eduardo Guillot, artistic director of the Mostra de València Cinema del Mediterrani, will attend a May 17 panel on the role of Spanish film festivals in distributing state film productions. The panel will be moderated by Rosa Bosch, with Enrique Costa of Elástica Films and Daniela Cölle from Slovakia of Pluto Film Distribution Network contributing insights.