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Undine (Christian Petzold) to be screened at the opening gala

Muñoz and Cienfuegos attending the press conference.  ® De Lamadrid

Seville, November 4, 2020.- After the actions taken last Friday by the SEFF and the Seville City Council, in a firm commitment to maintaining the competitive and face-to-face nature of the event, adapting its schedule and activities to the new mobility and capacity restrictions announced by the regional government, the organisation of the 17th Seville European Film Festival continues to work to activate alternatives in record time in order to continue on the schedule for the presentation of the programmed films.

The Seville City Council's delegate for urban habitat, culture and tourism, Antonio Muñoz, and the director of the Seville Festival, José Luis Cienfuegos, presented these guidelines today at a press conference held at the Hotel Sevilla Center, the event's new official venue.

In Muñoz's words, "there is a solid commitment to bringing this edition of the Festival together and making it happen. We are also moving forward presenting 150 titles, 28 world premieres and 72 national premieres. Undoubtedly, this will be a great festival that, above all, aspires to grow, even if it is under difficult circumstances, and hopes to show its European cinema in the cinemas this year".

To this effect, one of the most significant measures has been the agreement reached between the SEFF and the Spanish Film Academy, through which its headquarters will host screenings and presentations of the Spanish films belonging to the Official Section. In Madrid, Karen, the filmmaker María Pérez Sanz's look at period spent in Africa by the writer Karen Blixen, better known as Isak Dinesen, played by Christina Rosenvinge will be presented, as well as La vida era eso, a production in which David Martín de los Santos narrates the unusual friendship between two Spanish women of different generations who emigrated to Belgium, with Petra Martínez and Anna Castillo as the protagonists; and El año del descubrimiento, in which Luis López Carrasco lays out a combative mirror game comparing the past and present, focusing on the celebration of the Barcelona Olympics and the Seville Expo, plus the episode about the riots and protests against the closure of factories in Murcia that led to the burning of the Murcia Parliament. Throughout the week the Spanish Film Academy will also host promotional events for other Spanish production titles whose teams have not been able to travel to Seville due to mobility restrictions in the context of this pandemic.

The director of the SEFF: Cienfuegos underlined that "the Film Academy has generously offered its services in an unprecedented agreement, also supported by the ICAA, so that Spanish productions in the Official Section can have their premiere with the presence of the film team. So the films will be shown simultaneously in the Nervión cinemas and in the Academy's screening room. An agreement that defines the character of this festival, a festival that does not give up, protecting the films and their creators, protecting culture and its workers".

In addition to the collaboration with the Academy, the Seville European Film Festival has reached an agreement with Filmin so that, after its premiere in theatres, the platform will screen the films included in the Nuevas Olas for 24 hours. The SEFF's emblematic section is devoted to the innovative voices of European filmmaking. Twenty titles with the festival's seal of approval will thus have a virtual premiere after passing through the festival's theatres, complying with the protocol of the film premiere contest.

The festival's agenda has been rearranged to allow for remote coverage of accredited media through 23 streaming press conferences. Trying to make it easier for journalists and filmmakers who have not been able to accompany their films to Seville. An international presence is also maintained through conferences of titles in the Official Section, featuring Christian Petzold (Undine), Gianfranco Rossi (Notturno), Abel Ferrara (Siberia), Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (Gagarine), Magnus von Horn and Magdalena Kolesnik (Sweat), Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel (DAU Natasha) and Emmanuelle Béart (L'Etreinte).

Official Section Jury

As part of the press conference, the director of the Seville European Film Festival shared the film industry professionals who will be part of the 2020 Official Jury: Luis Urbano, Rosa Bosch, Carlos R. Ríos, Celia Rico and Frédéric Niedermayer.

Opening Gala: Undine

Nine days of European cinema will be kicked off on November 6th with an opening gala which, this year, will focus on irony and satire during times of pandemic.

The film chosen to open the festival is Undine, the latest work by German filmmaker Christian Petzold, which comes after being awarded twice at the Berlin Festival, with the Fipresci Award and the Silver Bear for Best Actress granted to Paula Beer. The film, which is part of the Official Section, is a powerful story inspired by German mythology and the water nymph who takes revenge on her beloved after discovering his betrayal.

Emmanuelle Béart   ® Sylvie Castioni.

Emmanuelle Béart to receive the City of Seville 2020 Award 

The French actress will be the star at the closing ceremony of the Seville European Film Festival, with the screening of her latest film, L'Entreinte, and the presentation of the City of Seville Award, which distinguishes her long and highly acclaimed career with more than 50 works on the big screen. 
 

Daughter of the singer and poet Guy Béart and the actress and model Geneviève Galéa, Emmanuelle Béart began her long career at the age of nine, appearing briefly and unrecognised And Hope to Die (Réne Clément, 1972), before officially starting her career with Tomorrow’s Children (Jean Pourtalé, 1976). She has been nominated for eight César awards (she won one, for Best Supporting Actress, for Manon's Revenge), and has won awards at Venice for A Heart in Winter (a role she also received from David di Donatello), and at Cannes and the European Film Awards for 8 Women (2002), awards she shared with her seven fellow cast members.

Emmanuelle Béart's latest work to date is L'Entreinte, the film that will close the SEFF 2020. Directed by the debutant and also actor Ludovic Bergéry, the film follows the adventures of a fifty-plus-woman, who after becoming a widow, has to start all over again. A sensitive and hopeful portrait, who in recent statements expressed that had certain aspects in common with her character: "Growing old is finding joy again. I no longer have the desire to be loved by others," she said.

With the City of Seville Award, Emmanuelle Béart will take over from previously awarded figures of the level of Jeanne Balibar, Valeria Golino (2018), Trine Dyrholm (2017), costume designer Paco Delgado (2016), Timothy Spall (2015), director Claude Lanzmann (2013), Maria de Medeiros (2012), María Galiana (2011), Carlos Saura (2010) and Franco Nero (2008). An award that has been granted by the Seville Festival and its City Council since 2008 (with the exceptions of 2009 and 2014, when it was not awarded) and which recognises the undisputed artistic careers of great names in European cinema.