Spain’s FICX Gijón Festival Bets Big on International, Regional and Local Talent

GIJÓN, Spain — Taking place in northern Spain under two monhs after the San Sebastián International Film Festival and linked to it by the Cross Roads initiative, the 64th Gijón International Film Festival (FICX) lineup stacks many of the year’s most talked-about features from international festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Sundance.

At the same time, running Nov. 13-20, the festival serves as a springboard for new local talent into the international arena, which the festival has championed for decades.

FICX’s influence extends to the new Spanish talent currently rising with recognition: Oliver Laxe (“Sirât”), Jonás Trueba (“The Other Way Around”) and Carla Simon (“Alcarràs”) are closely linked with Gijón. Both Laxe and Trueba showcased their first works at the festival and have built long careers since their early FICX selections. Simón had her very own first retrospective at Gijón.

The Gijón Festival has a long standing tradition of mixing rising and established talent, top-tier international and regional voice rubbing shoulders, becoming a beacon for emerging talent.

This year’s edition opened Nov. 13 with James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” screening in Gijón’s main Albar section. Gray’s previous feature, “Armageddon Time,” also opened the 2022 Gijón festival.

Closing the festival on Nov. 20 is Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky,” described by Variety’s Owen Gleiberman as “a cleverly crafted crowd-pleaser, all designed to tap into the love of ‘Rocky’ that has never gone away.”

“On one side we bring big names from the international industry, as we’ve done in previous editions,” explained FICX director Alejandro Díaz Castaño. “We also bring top-Spanish talent and well-established filmmakers such as Albert Serra (“Sixteen Moments of My Life”) or Hal Hartley (“Where To Land”).

Albar, the festival’s main competition, includes 21 features aiming for the top prize. Albar’s selection includes Cannes Directors’ Fortnight winner Clio Barnard’s “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning,” Grant Lee’s Berlin Silver Bear winner “Everybody Digs Bill Evans” and Visar Morina’s “Shame and Money,” winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury prize at Sundance.

“I think we ended up having many unclassifiable features, which do not fully fit into more structured selections because of their strong auteurist component,” explained Díaz Castaño. “Here at Gijón, we are really into that mix of genres, those hybrids that tend to live on the margins.”

Among the Albar titles is Valeska Grisebach’s Cannes Jury Prize winner “The Dreamed Adventure.” No stranger to either the city or the festival, Grisebach’s previous work “Longing” took the festival’s best feature prize back in 2006.

Hong Sang-soo, a Gijón favorite who has won FICX best feature prize three times, arrives at this edition’s Albar with “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” which scooped the best director prize at Locarno.

Radu Jude, another Gijón’s regular who scored Albar’s top prize in 2023 with “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” returns with “The Diary of a Chambermaid,” which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

“We are also lucky to have some regular, highly talented attendees from both the local and international landscape, such as Lisandro Alonso (“Eureka”), Albert Serra, Radu Jude and Hong Sangsoo,” added Díaz Castaño.

László Nemes’ “Moulin,” Jeanne Herry’s “Garance” and Angela Schanelec’s “My Wife Cries” round out a competition that includes Mads Mengel’s Karlovy Vary winner “The Guest.”

Nicolas Pariser’s Venice contender “One Minute to Midnight” will screen out of competition. “The Italian coda is sweet, allowing Pariser to redeem the concept of love from the cynicism of a world wary of romance,” wrote Variety’s Jay Weissberg.

Retueyos, focusing on directors promoting their second or third feature, opens with Pierre Le Gall’s “Flesh and Fuel,” winner of Cannes’ Queer Palme Révélation prize. It also includes Venice Orizzonti winner Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni’s “Un détour par Diane.”

The festival’s Premiere section brings international features to Spain for their premieres. It has expanded to 16 titles. Among attending filmmakers is Gregg Araki, who returns to the festival with Sundance title “I Want Your Sex,” starring Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde. Araki first visited Gijón in 1996, presenting three of his early works, “The Living End,” “Totally F***ed Up” and “The Doom Generation.” He was also the subject of a 1999 FICX retrospective.

Other Spain premieres take in Céline Sciamma’s cinematic essay “Tutti Frutti”; Jia Zhangke’s Cannes title “Torino Shadow”; Cédric Kahn’s Venice screener “A Place to Heal”; Ulrike Ottinger’s vampire fantasy “The Blood Countess,” starring Isabelle Huppert; and Mohammad Rasoulof’s 39-minute “Sense of Water.”

Sangsoo will also be on hand for Gijón presentation of “The Day She Returns,” which is set to open in U.S. theaters next month.

Thanks to the festival’s relation with its audience, its success on ticket sales and its relentless pursuit of partners and collaborations, five San Sebastián Festival titles arrive at Gijón as part of the festival’s Cross Roads initiative. The list includes Fred Cavayé’s “Les Mirsérables,” Jesse Steinberg’s “The Debut” and Javier Ruiz Caldera’s “5 More Minutes.”

Gijón continues to support talent, collaborating with the Asturias Paraiso Natural Film Commision on FICX Pro, its industry wing and on the Semilleru project development lab, which provide opportunities for local Asturian and Spanish professionals.

“What we aim to do is to bring the city together and push together and rally support behind the festival, working hard with local and regional entities, local government, and private initiatives and citizens. The festival becomes like a hub where everyone tunes in to connect and where everyone can find their place,” added Diaz Castaño.

The 64th Gijón Film Festival Lineup:

Albar Main Competition

• “Paper Tiger” (U.S., James Gray), opening film
• “I Play Rocky” (U.S., Peter Farrelly), closing film
• “Heil Jupiter!” (Mexico, Poland, Portugal Norway, Sweden, Carlos Reygadas)
• “Mouse” (U.S., Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson)
• “Moulin” (France, László Nemes)
• “Donkey Princess” (“Princesa Burro”) (Chile/France/Uruguay/Netherlands/Germany, Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña)
• “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” (U.S., Noah Segan)
• “Garance” (France, Jeanne Herry)
• “My Wife Cries” (“Meine Frau weint”) (Germany, France, Angela Schanelec)
• “Everybody Digs Bill Evans” (Ireland/U.K., Grant Gee)
• “One Minute to Midnight” (“Un peu avant minuit”) (France, Nicolas Pariser), out of competition
• “Fujiko” (Japan, Taichi Kimura)
• “The Guest” (“Gæsten”) (Denmark, Mads Mengel)
• “Les Indes” (Switzerland, Spain, Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier)
• “From Dawn to Dawn” (Spain, France, Xisi Sofía Ye Chen)
• “Goodbye Cruel World” (“Adieu monde cruel”) (France, Belgium, Félix de Givry)
• “The Diary of a Chambermaid” (France, Romania, Radu Jude)
• “The Dreamed Adventure” (Germany, France/Bulgaria/Austria, Valeska Grisebach)
• “Shame and Money” (Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium, Visar Morina)
• “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” (U.K., Clio Barnard)
• “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes” (South Korea, Hong Sangsoo)

FICX Premiere

• “Tutti Frutti” (France, Céline Sciamma)
• “I Want Your Sex” (U.S., Gregg Araki)
• “Torino Shadow” (China, Italy, Jia Zhangke)
• “Sense of Water” (Iran, Germany, Mohammad Rasoulof), 39-minute short
• “A Place to Heal” (“15/18”) (France, Cédric Kahn)
• “The Blood Countess” (Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Ulrike Ottinger)
• “Conrad & Crab – Idiotic Gems” (Belgium, France, Claude Schmitz)
• “Virages” (Switzerland, France, Aline Suter and Céline Carridroit)
• “Journal du futur” (France, Agathe Bonitzer)
• “The Day She Returns” (South Korea, Hong Sangsoo)
• “A Common Story” (“Una storia”) (Italy, Anna Foglietta)
• “Girl and Wolf” (“Chica y lobo”) (Spain, Portugal, Roc Espinet)
• “Heysel 85” (Belgium, Netherlands Teodora Ana Mihai)
• “Providence and the Guitar” (Portugal, João Nicolau)
• “D’ici là” (France, Sarah Leonor)
• “Margen de maniobra” (Spain, Miguel Ángel Blanca)

Retueyos

• “Flesh and Fuel” (“Du fioul dans les artères”) (France, Poland, Pierre Le Gall), opening film
• “Women as Lovers” (Germany, Luxembourg, Koxi)
• “Meanwhile in Namibia” (Germany, Jonas Spriestersbach)
• “Dua” (Kosovo, Switzerland, France, Blerta Basholli)
• “Objet a” (Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ann Oren)
• “I Plant My Hand in the Garden” (Germany, Serbia, U.S., Hoda Taheri and Boris Hadžija)
• “Brave New Love” (Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Maria Bäck)
• “A Detour for Diane” (“Un détour par Diane”) (Belgium, France, Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni)
• “Supporting Role” (U.S., Estonia, Georgia, Switzerland, Turkey*, Ana Urushadze)
• “Memorizu” (Japan, Miiku Sakanishi)
• “I’ll Be Gone in June” (Germany, Switzerland, U.S., Katharina Rivilis)
• “Honey Bunny” (Croatia, Serbia, Igor Jelinović)
• “A Family” (Belgium, Netherlands, Mees Peijnenburg)
• “Las convulsiones” (Spain, France, David Gutiérrez Camps)
• “Las Mantis” (Argentina, Spain, Dídac Gimeno)