ijónIn the shifting sands of Spanish film festivals, five stand firm: the 'A' category San Sebastián, of course, Valladolid for auteur pics, Sitges with a broad 'fantasy' brief, a recuperating Huelva, as a platform for Latino fare; and now Gijón.
This year's 34th Gijón International Film Festival saw a further consolidation of the event, under director José Luis Cienfuegos, as a launching-pad for risky, left-of-centre indie pics, plus a raunchy line in comic and alternative music tie-ins.
Parallel side-bars included tributes to Gregg Araki (Doom Generation), Derek Jarman and an immensely-enjoyed Robert Aldrich retrospective.
The Official Section saw a strong presence of women directors, three of whom triumphed: Clara Law, whose Floating Life won the Best Feature Film and Director awards, Karine Sudan who took the Best Script plaudit on Nadia Anliker's Miel et cendres, and Australia's Monica Pellizari, whose ironic tale of sexual self-discovery, Fistful of Flies, won Dina Panozzo the Best Actress plaudit, and shared with Richie Winearls' The Imitators the public's Young Jury Prize for the Best Feature Film.
Given that this prize is voted for by 50 16-26 year-olds, this award is seen by many as the most important of those granted by the festival.
Under Cienfuegos, now in his second year, Gijón has carved out a distinctive niche in Spain as a barometer for young audience reaction to more 'risky' lower-budget indie pics. Given this, Spanish distributors' presence is likely to grow next year. María Alvárez
