SPANISH SHOWCASE – CANNES DOCS
As part of a program organized and financed by ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), and as one of the professional activities and projects promoted in the context of Spain’s designation as a guest of honor, filmmakers from the Basque Country, Andalusia, Aragón, Catalonia and the Valencian Community gathered at the Riviera 2 Hall of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes on May 21st to present the four feature-length documentary projects that participated in the first showcase dedicated to documentaries in Spain at Cannes Docs, the platform dedicated to documentaries at the Marché du Film, at the world’s most important film festival, Cannes Film Festival.
The session was attended by producer Rafael Molés and filmmaker Carlos Marques-Marcet (co-director of the project entitled Un arbre és un arbre); director Larraitz Zuazo and producers Ainhoa Andraka and Zuri Goikoetxea (Itoiz udako sesioak); producer José Alberto Andrés Lacasta and filmmaker Luis Muñoz Cubillo “Soto” (co-director of Los restos del pasar); and producers Concha Barquero and Alejandro Alvarado (also co-directors of Um filme by Fernando Ruiz Vergara) together with co-producer José M. Rodríguez.
Before the pitching session, the executive producer of Cannes Docs, Pierre-Alexis Chevit, and the director of Fashion, Habitat and Cultural Industries of ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, Pablo Conde, spoke, highlighting the importance of meetings like Cannes, in which business opportunities are opened to strengthen the productive industrial fabric and support and promote the creator and audiovisual talent throughout the State.
The director of ZINEBI – International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Bilbao, Vanesa Fernández Guerra, briefly presented each of the participating projects to festival programmers, international sales agents and documentary film producers from around the world. The session was also attended by the Head of the Film Sector at ICEX, Silvia Romeu González-Barros; the Director of Marketing Policies at ICAA, Jara Ayúcar; the Film Advisor at ICEX, Noemi Cuetos; the Head of Marketing, Communication and International Development at Zineuskadi (Basque Government), Ione Feijóo; the Director of FICX – Gijón’s International Film Festival, Alejandro Díaz Castaño and the programmer of ZINEBI, Rubén Corral.
After the showcase, the participating filmmakers had the opportunity to take part in individualized sessions with documentary advisors and experts, and held working meetings with sales agents and producers specialized in documentaries from all over the world, with the aim of achieving the contacts and collaborations necessary to complete the projects presented.
In addition, prior to the Cannes Docs days (May 18-24th), all participants in the showcase had a one-on-one mentorship with filmmaker Zeynep Güzel, advisor to DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) and Doc Station coordinator at the Berlinale.
