{"id":6112,"date":"2019-10-09T19:11:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T22:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ficvaldivia.cl\/?p=6112"},"modified":"2019-10-09T19:11:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T22:11:23","slug":"ficvaldivia-gala-the-filmmakers-of-the-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ficvaldivia.cl\/en\/ficvaldivia-gala-the-filmmakers-of-the-present\/","title":{"rendered":"FICValdivia Gala: the filmmakers of the present"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 26<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong> FICValdivia edition, Gala, one of the most highly anticipated sections at the festival, will feature the latest works by Corneliu Porumboiu, Mart\u00edn Rejtman, Nicol\u00e1s Pereda, and Federico Veiroj, among others, filmmakers who synthesize present-day\u2019s creative weather, both in aesthetics terms, and in the social-political arena.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the novelties that Gala brings this 26th<\/sup> FICValdivia edition is the inclusion of short films to the program. Until this year, and not counting the competitive sections, those films of shorter lengths had been focused on the opening and closing ceremonies. In this logic, in 2018, the films that screened, respectively, were Blue <\/em>(2018), by Thai director Apichatpong Wheerasethakul, and Sobre Cosas que me han Pasado <\/em>(2018), by Jos\u00e9 Luis Torres Leiva, both celebrating their Latin American premieres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gala is one of the most important non-competitive sections at the festival, because it connects the cinephile audience with some of the key works by great contemporary filmmakers. This year, it will devote space for short films, an instance that will also serve to reunite with old acquaintances of the festival, such as Argentine author Mart\u00edn Rejtman<\/strong>, and Mexican director Nicol\u00e1s Pereda<\/strong>, who will present here their brief, recent pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejtman has already been the object of a focus here at Valdivia in 2008, and in 2014, his latest full-length Dos Disparos <\/em>(2014), was also part of the Gala section. This year, one of the most original and unclassifiable pillars of the New Argentine Cinema returns with Shakti<\/em><\/strong> (2019), a piece of only 19 minutes, about the crisis of a young Jewish man who faces his grandmother\u2019s death. This blow will make him break up with his girlfriend, and initiate a process of searching that will progressively become more cumbersome and stunted.
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Nicol\u00e1s Pereda had a focus around his work in 2010, the same year in which Verano de Goliat<\/em> (2010) obtained the award for Best Picture, here at the Festival. A couple of versions later, he returned with his short film Los Mejores Temas<\/em> (2012). This year, Pereda arrives in Valdivia with Mi Piel, Luminosa<\/em><\/strong> (2019), a 40-minute work he codirects together with actor Gabino Rodr\u00edguez, one of his habitual collaborators. The film, which debuted this year at the Locarno festival, is presented as the result of a commission by the Secretar\u00eda de Educaci\u00f3n P\u00fablica de M\u00e9xico (Mexico\u2019s Public Education Secretariat), to research the use of State resources in an improvement program for primary education. Soon, however, the narrative takes on another dimension, and its images deviate toward the subjective record of the stories collected in those rural schools, where statistical rigor turns into a ghostly, mysterious and sometimes-perturbing approximation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gala Feature-Length Films<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nunca Sub\u00ed el Provincia<\/em><\/strong> (2019), Ignacio Ag\u00fcero<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In terms of features, the section will include three premiers by Chilean directors: Nunca Sub\u00ed el Provincia<\/em><\/strong> (2019), the new documentary by Ignacio Ag\u00fcero<\/strong>, which received this year the Grand Prix at the 30th<\/sup> FIDMarseille; Vendr\u00e1 la Muerte y Tendr\u00e1 tus Ojos <\/em><\/strong>(2019), a drama directed by Jos\u00e9 Luis Torres Leiva<\/strong>, and HRA (The Play) <\/em><\/strong>(2019), the new production by Alejandro Fern\u00e1ndez Almendras<\/strong>, which is shot in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n