Ten films produced in Spain, the United States, Italy, France, Russia, and Iran will be screened during the six-day festival.
The lone Iranian entry to the festival is a psychological study of male-female relations. It consists of seven sequences in which a couple discuss their problems.
In addition, film critics, experts, and university students will be holding 19 sessions to discuss the films on the sidelines of the event.
The festival keeps searching for its identity under its director. It was 1988 and the objective was to combine guest celebrities -- Irvin Kershner, Terence Young, Martin Landau, Jacqueline Bisset, or Ray Harryhausen -- with top quality films which sold out.
But further changes were bound to help round up the festival’s unique identity. In 1995 José Luis Cienfuegos, current director of the film festival, took the reins and ultimately changed its direction toward young independent film productions, to earn the title of “Spanish Sundance”.
Year after year, the official section and the cycles have been strengthened by the presence of guests such as Paul Schrader, Jack Cardiff, Gregg Araki, Harmony Korine, Joao César Monteiro, Richard Fleischer, Fruit Chan, Paul Morrissey, Karel Reisz, Tom DiCillo, Aki Kaurism?ki, Kenneth Anger, Seijun Suzuki, Richard Kern, Tony Gatlif, Hal Hartley, Ulrich Seidl, and Abbas Kiarostami.
Audiences have steadily increased, to the point that over the last few years, full venues and long queues have been commonplace during the festival.
AP/HG
End
MNA
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