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Andalusian Shorts by Cesare Aceti
Cristina Castaño, a well-known Spanish theater, film and television actress, helped host the International Festival of Shorts in Almería, Andalusia. photo: courtesy Almeria Festival
IT TOOK PLACE IN ALMERIA, ANDALUSIA, not far from the birthplace of Velázquez and Picasso but a long way from Paris, where Louis Buñuel and Salvador Dali put the area on the film map with "Andalusian Dog" (1929), arguably cinema's most famous art short.
The December 2014 13th International Festival of Short Movies, known as Almería en Corto, was the final hurrah for a year which breathed deeply in cinema, notably the numerous big productions which have chosen Andalusia's emblematic "spaghetti western" look for their projects: “Exodus: Gods and King” (2014) by Ridley Scott and “Lejos del Mar” of Imanol Uribe (showing in 2015).
The festival also awarded the Almerìa Tierra Cine (Amería Land of Filmmaking) prize to two wellknown world cinema figures: Terry Gilliam, who presented his short “The Wholly Family” (2011), and, both beloved and hated by Californians, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governator came in September to liven up the joint, often delivering his signature line, “Hasta la vista, baby!” to the squeals of younger cinephiles.
“Our goal is to shake the viewer through the cathartic effect offered us by cinema" noted Luis Serrano, director of the festival, who often served as master of ceremonies. He also said that the films in show had one thing in common, "Works centered on the behavior of the human being struggling to overcome difficult situations."
This year's show attracted a lot of international entries, thanks to an expansion of prizes and a new section: Opera Prima (First Opera).
As usual the Festival was held in Almeria's Municipal Auditorium and palaces of justice as well as the Municipal School of Music and Arts, the Casa del Cine, the Culture Center Cajamar and the bar-café Cyrano. Some festival shows were projected in parallel in different places of the province.
Arnold Schwarzenegger at Cannes Festival the same year, 2014, he also appeared in Andalusia for the Shorts Festival. photo: courtesy A. Schwarzenegger
The Municipal Auditorium also served as the set for the closing ceremony where the jury announced the winners in front of more than 900 people. Cristina Castaño, a Spanish theater as well as film and television actress, hosted that event assisted by an a cappella quartet interpreting various movie soundtracks.
That night, cinema shone its light on the young Scottish filmmaker Jamie Stone, who literally fell from the stage after his short “Orbit Ever After”, which describes an impoverished humanity in a next future, won the international category and the Gil Parrondo Prize for Best Artistic Director.
The Audience Award for Best Short went to the hysterically funny French film “Dad in Mum”, directed by Fabrice Bracq in which the mystery of birth is innocently observed and explicated by the baby’s two older sisters.
The final award of the night, showed in the Opera Prima section, replete with 10,000 Euros prize, went to Chema Rodríguez for “Anochece en la India”, shot in Almería and about the adventures of a paraplegic man (brilliantly interpreted by the Spanish actor Juan Diego), traveling from Spain to India to find himself.
Also interesting was the Competition 48x3-Marathon, where participants joined groups and produced a short movie in three weekends; the winner was “Juego de Trini”, directed by Ángel Haro Rosario.
Poster for Almeria En Corto, the International Festival of Shorts in Almería, Andalusia. photo: courtesy Almeria Festival
The festival's international photography competition displayed 30 photos, from 743 received, and awarded the first prize to José Antonio Lirola Manzano's "Oeste de Plástico" ("The Plastic West"). Some 60 posters created by artists and fans, who applied to create the festival's official poster were also shown.
The writer and journalist, Francisco Reyero, presented his book "Cuerpos Celestes: Estrellas y Gobernantes Bohemios de Viaje por Andalucia" (Celestial Bodies: Stars and Bohemian Rulers Travel through Andalucia) covering the life of thirty personalities, from Sergio Leone, to Frank Sinatra and the Shah of Persia, who visited the region.
The owners of the bar-café Cyrano have long been at the forefront of cultural activities in Almeria, including the festival. They presented José Francisco Montero whose “Chronicles of a Samurai" covers the great French director Jean Pierre Melville. He discussed some of the filmmaker's familiar themes.
They also hosted the fascinating Coffee with Miguel Torrente. The general manager of Ganfa Producciones and executive producer of Númerica Films, Torrente is one of the most important Spanish producers dedicated to promoting the production and development of Spain's audiovisual industry.
To infect the lovers of film with a similar enthusiasm for Andalusia, the festival made available free guided tours. One notable location was Casa del Cine, the first museum dedicated to the seventh art in Andulusia which chronicles the passage of eminent personalities of cinema including David Lean, Fassbinder, Peter O'Toole, Yul Bryner and John Lennon. The former Beatle lived in Andalusia for a period and wrote the first versions of his famous song "Strawberry Fields Forever" there.
At the bar-café Cyrano, were movies were also projected. photo: courtesy Almeria Festival
City Councilor Carolina Lafita presented the award to the winner of the Fourth "Miradas Adolescentes" ("Adolescent Views"), featuring stories against gender violence, to students of a local high school, the 1st Bachillerato of Colegio La Salle Almería.
Another 30 pupils participated in the third edition of the festival's laboratory of video art called “A Half Workshop”. This year it followed the trajectory of Yoko Ono before, during and after her relationship with John Lennon and her influence on music, video and conceptual art.
The director of several short films and comedies such as "Spanish Movie", "Promoción Fantasma" and "Tres Bodas Más", Javier Ruiz Caldera wanted to invite viewers to fight for their dreams to achieve their goals.
"When I finished the short movie I did not know how to continue," Ruiz Caldera said. "I knew I liked the film and when I specialized to ESCAC (Escuela de Cine y Audiovisuales de Cataluña) devoted myself to mount film... working with directors such as Borja Cobeaga or Juan Antonio Bayona."
Author José Francisco Montero presents a his book, 'Chronicles of a Samurai' on the great French director Jean Pierre Melville. photo: courtesy Almeria Festival
The information section of Almería en Corto also featured a show dedicated to children: "O Xigante" by Luis Almeida da Matta and Julio Vanzeler, "Blue and Malone" by Abraham López Guerrero, "The Animation of a Man" by Amanda Nedermeijer and "Alfred y Anna" by Juanma Suárez.
At the same time, the makeup artist Arantxa Martín and her team showed the secrets of their work and made a "maquillage" make-over for some fifty women and girls present.
The people of Almeria are betting "cinema energy" will expand in the provinces as much the capital. Proof of this is the new project Filming Almería whose job is to bring back the producers, actors and directors to focus their movie camera on this land of cinema. With the 2014 festival such a success, their task is certainly easier.
Cesare Aceti is writer and film critic living in Belgium who can be reached .