There is one week a year when Albacete becomes particularly movie-loving. Screenings of independent films, previews, workshops, training, meetings, activities for the whole family, etc. They take the city of La Manche. This genius does not come from nowhere, but is the result of the celebration of Abycine Lanza, a meeting point for those who make independent Spanish audiovisual possible, and of Abycine, the film festival of this city. Both are growing 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 channels, festivals, etc. – meet and help independent Spanish directors to finance their next projects.
To do this, they are launching two national appeals. On the one hand, Impulso CMM Desarrollo is designed for projects that are in the first phase of development, at the time when, in addition to aspiring to the aids and incentives that Abycine Lanza distributes for a total amount of 65,000 euros , it is also seeking to create synergies. “Whether they find alliances with producers from all over the country, with distributors who want to embark on this project now or with national or international commercial agents and make themselves known in the sector,” explains José Manuel Zamora, director of Festival, about which this appeal continues.
On the other hand, with Impulse Work in progress (WIP), however, the focus is on films that are almost finished. In addition to financial prices, “what is sought is that projects which do not yet have a distributor or commercial 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 specifier and each project that goes through Abycine Lanza “He comes very armed to obtain partners and even future public aid.”
The proof is that the last two winners of the Abycine launches WIP, the Human Hibernation projectby Anna Cornudella, and samsaraby Lois Patiño, will participate in the Berlinale a few months after attending the Albacete meeting. Or that already essential titles of Spanish cinema like 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 today and which, year after year, has consolidated itself to become a reference meeting for the independent national industry. audiovisual sector. All this with the added difficulty of developing a proposal of national dimension from a peripheral territory.
“Being in an autonomous community that does not have a great audiovisual tradition nor too clear audiovisual policies is a handicap, but the good thing is that Abycine Lanza What is done in a city like Albacete is that it is very welcoming and creates during these three days an ideal meeting point and a feeling of community that would perhaps be more difficult in other big cities,” Zamora summarizes.
Independent cinema for the whole family
Abycine, the Albacete Film Festival that has been held in the city for 26 years, will begin on October 17 and continue 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 Prize for their work as producers of new comedy talents and formats. In addition, the Malaga Festival will also be rewarded for its work in favor of Spanish cinema.
During its duration of one week, it will be possible to benefit from the programming of its section Abycine Independent“the most authoritarian and risky official section, in which we seek these new perspectives of Spanish cinema,” describes Zamora.
In this way, participants will find firsts such as The instinctthe first film by Juan Albarracín; With my cold, dead handsa documentary by Javier Horcajada; he toxic thrillerby Lorenzo Lerin; Still life with ghosts, by Enrique Buleo; either Human hibernationwhich “is presented at the festival because we like the films to be screened by Abycine Lanza”.
In addition, over the years, the My First Abycine section has gained weight. “It is all the audiovisual literacy effort that the festival carries out among the young people and children of the province who participate in different educational programs to learn about cinematographic and human values.”
In this context, we will mainly be able to see international short films, although a few feature films will also be programmed. This is the case of Los Williams, of Raúl de la Fuente; Princess Mononoke, by Hayao Miyazaki; or Savages, by Claude Barras.
To complete the programming of this edition, there will also be its traditional sections Abycine Presenta, Abycine Cortos (the festival is one of the Goya preselectors in the animation, documentary and fiction categories) or Made in Castilla-La Mancha.
