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 FESTIVAL WILL RUN FROM OCTOBER 27^TH - NOVEMBER 2^ND IN THE MALLORCAN CAPITAL OF PALMA

The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival today announced its 2021 programme, for what will be the 10^th Edition of the independent, international event - the longest-running physical film festival in the region.

The entire 2021 programme will present a total of 139 projects to invited press, industry guests and local audiences; across all categories, the 2021 line-up will showcase 27 World premieres, 31 Spanish premieres and 12 European premieres from 32 countries across the globe including the USA, UK, Germany, Spain United Arab Emirates, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Costa Rica, China and Japan.

EMIFF runs for seven days and six nights annually, showcasing a culturally diverse, inclusive and provocative mix of feature films, documentaries and short-form content from across the world.

2021 celebrations around the festival’s 10^th anniversary are set to return to a wholly in-person event, after a hybrid combination of in-person and virtual screenings and events in 2020. EMIFF are thrilled to have public non-profit tourism organisation Fundacion Mallorca Turismo as the main sponsor for the 2021 edition, with leading Portixol Hotel and Restaurant as the Official Festival Hotel partner.

This year’s line-up includes 10 narrative feature films in competition – including the World Premiere of US filmmaker William Nunez’s 1920s-set THE LAUREATE (UK), starring Tom Hughes, Dianna Agron and Laura Haddock and based on the acclaimed war poet Robert Graves’ unconventional home life. EMIFF’s Closing Night Gala on November 2^nd, Nunez and his principal cast, as well as the Graves family, will be in attendance.

Following its UK World Premiere at Raindance Film Festival, British filmmaker Kirsty Bell will be bringing her feature film debut A BIRD FLEW IN (UK) to Mallorca for its European bow. The film’s cast includes Derek Jacobi, Frances Barber and Sadie Frost. LOS DIAS QUE NO ESTUVE (Mexico), by writer/director Samuel Rios Y Valles, will also receive its European Premiere and Spanish Premieres in competition  will include HIGHWAY ONE (USA) by Jaclyn Bethany - winner of the Nòt Film Fest Best Ensemble Performance Award earlier this year, as well as director Jules Williamson’s comedy-drama OFF THE RAILS (UK) starring Jenny Seagrove, Sally Phillips and the late Kelly Preston. The film will be presented by the Mallorca Film Commission and is nominated for the Evolution Island Award - Best Feature Film Shot in Mallorca.

EMIFF will celebrate documentary filmmaking with its Documentary Features International Competition and standalone Documentary Features MIB (Made in Baleares) Competition strands – including the European Premiere of Costa Rican artist Allegra Pacheco’s SALARYMAN and the World Premiere of twice Goya-nominated and Mallorca native Marcos Cabotá’s SONIC FANTASY.

EMIFF previously announced its Opening Night film to be PAN DE LIMÓN CON SEMILLAS DE AMAPOLA (Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake) by Benito Zambrano. This will mark a come-back for Spanish filmmaker Zambrano, who launched LA VOZ DORMIDA at the festival ten years ago, at the first ever edition.

Festival Director and curator Sandra Seeling Lipski said of today’s unveiling: “Our line-up this year invites us to have tea with Robert Graves in the English countryside, eat lemon cake in the mountains of Mallorca, experience first love in Paris and come of age in China; we can witness bohemian nights in northern California, cultural clashes in Berlin and even be sent to Mars! I am happy to say that our International Competition feature film line-up presents a majority of female-directed features - and 6 out of the 10 films in contention in this category are first features, too. Evolution discovers new talents and connects them to industry professionals over 7 days on the island of Mallorca; this specific mix creates a powerful energy to explore cultures and create new projects together”.

An impressive 53 narrative films and 6 docs will screen in the Shorts International Competition section, as well as 13 narrative films and 6 docs in the MIB (Made in Baleares) Shorts Competition sections.

Rounding out the programme will be Student Shorts from local and international rising filmmakers, a special spotlight on experimental short films, a total of 20 music video screenings, films for children and a special Halloween themed Drive In Cinema, screening classics such as BEETLEJUICE (1988) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1994) THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991) and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993).

Seminal filmmaker Wim Wenders was announced in September as the recipient of the festival’s highest honour- the Evolution Honorary Award 2021. The accolade will be given at the festival’s Opening Night Ceremony and Wenders’ THE SALT OF THE EARTH (2014) will be screened as part of the 10th anniversary programme.

Suzanne Lindon, whose SPRING BLOSSOM will receive its Mallorca Premiere in competition at EMIFF, will also be the recipient of the 2021 Evolutionary Award- new Talent.

Adds Sandra Seeling Lipski, “I am particularly thrilled about our honorees this year, again they reflect our mission, ‘Bridging Cultures, Bridging People’ and they are the perfect pair - an industry stalwart such as Wim Wenders (receiving the Evolution Honorary Award) and a new talent on the rise in Suzanne Lindon (Evolutionary Award - New Talent)"

Further recipients of the festival’s 2021 Vision and Icon awards - which pay tribute to distinguished filmmakers and performers respectively - are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Previous guests of the festival and awards honourees at EMIFF over the last decade have included acclaimed international filmmakers Asif Kapadia, Fernando Trueba, Marjane Satrapi, Tobias Lindholm and Paul Haggis; as well as actors Mads Mikkelsen, Danny Devito, Ana de Armas, Angela Molina, Melissa Leo and Lena Heady, amongst others.

The full 2021 line-up selections are as follows:

FEATURE FILMS in international competition (10)

Pan De Limón Con Semillas De Amapola (English title: Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake)

In a small town in Mallorca, Anna and Marina, two sisters who were separated in their teens, meet again to sell a bakery they have inherited from a mysterious woman. While trying to uncover the secrets of their enigmatic heritage, Anna and Marina will have to face old family conflicts and try to recover the lost years.

Spain, 118min, Mallorca Premiere – Opening Night Film

Director: Benito Zambrano (In attendance + actors)

The Laureate

Set in the mid-1920s, celebrated poet and writer Robert Graves returns from war traumatised and creatively struggling. Young poet Laura Riding re-ignites his passion, and with the blessing of his wife, Nancy, his muse becomes their lover. But Laura’s attention turns to a new complicated relationship that scandalizes society and threatens to risk everything they have.

UK, 110min, World Premiere – Closing Night Film

Director: William Nunez (In attendance + actors)

Spring Blossom

A 16 year old girl, bored with her own age group, becomes involved with an older man at a theatre she passes.

France, 70min, Mallorca Premiere

Director: Suzanne Lindon (In attendance + Evolutionary Award – New Talent recipient)

Highway One

In rural California, Anna is hosting a New Year's Eve party. Nina, a long-gone friend from high school unexpectedly shows up, bringing out the feelings of Maria. Over the course of the evening, Maria struggles with her feelings and facing the partygoers: a gaggle of eccentric millennials.

USA, 96min, Spanish Premiere

Director: Jaclyn Bethany (In attendance)

König der Siebenschläfer (English title: The Dormouse King)

Frank is disciplined and pretty uptight. When his girlfriend Luisa tells him she is pregnant he doubts that he is the father. Luisa leaves him. Frank starts to lose his grip on things. When he meets Recep, an immigrant who left Turkey to come to Germany in the eighties, a friendship develops that awakens Frank’s hunger for music and life.

Germany, 90min, European Premiere

Director: Marie Henin (In attendance)

Los Dias Que No Estuve (English title: The Days I Lost)

A television host suddenly realizes that he has the opportunity to fake his own death. And he does. But once his plan is finalized, he will meet his daughter, whom he abandoned many years ago.

Mexico, 94 minutes, European Premiere

Director: Samuel Rios Y Valles

Queen of the Andes

Pillar has been drafted against her will on a one-way tour to colonize Mars. These are her last days on Earth.

USA, 96min, Spanish Premiere

Director: Jilian Acreman

A Bird Flew In

When lockdown is imposed, the cast and crew of a film set are sent home - alone. Actors without an audience. Directors without a script. Couples who fall apart. While others come together. An exploration of what happens when we are freed from external distractions and forced to find meaning in our lives and loves.

UK, 90min, European Premiere

Director: Kirsty Bell (In attendance + actors)

Three Wishes

Two characters, played by the same girl. They are the phenomenon and symbol of society, just like two rivers that never intersect, and finally return to the endless sea. The story jumps between magic and reality by using the characters' real life and surreal fate metaphor.

China, 110min, World Premiere

Director: Weng Yu

Off The Rails

Three friends in their fifties recreate a train journey across Europe, but this time 17-year-old Maddie takes her mother's place, fulfilling her dying wish. With lost passports, train strikes, and romantic entanglements on their way, they must put old squabbles aside to complete the journey in five days and remind themselves that they are still in the prime of life.

UK, 94min, Spanish Premiere

Director: Jules Williamson (In attendance with actress Sally Phillips, and DP Mike Eley)

SPECIAL SCREENING

The Salt of the Earth (2014)

Photographer Sebastião Salgado spends 40 years chronicling the experiences of deprived communities in Africa and South America. His son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, takes a look back over Sebastião's career.

Germany, 110min, Special Retrospective Screening

Director: Wim Wenders (Evolution Honorary Award recipient)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS in international competition (6)

Bienvenidos a España (English title: Welcome to Spain)

A refugee group who recently arrived in the south of Spain is hosted in a former whorehouse, excited about and fearful of the unknown, and willing to learn what Spaniards are like.

Spain, 92min, Balearic Premiere

Director: Juan Antonio Moreno

The Beatles and India

A unique historical chronicle of the enduring love affair between The Beatles and India. A fascinating journey to a remote Himalayan ashram in search of spiritual bliss - a time that inspired an unprecedented burst of creative song-writing and shaped the evolution of the iconic band, how they bridged two vastly different cultures.

UK, 96min, Balearic Premiere

Director: Ajoy Bose & Peter Compton (In attendance)

Take Me to the River New Orleans

A celebration of the rich musical history of New Orleans and Louisiana. A melting pot of influences from around the World, that formed one of the world's most unique cultural jewels. Our adventure shows the resiliency of surviving disaster to a formidable rebirth while pairing legacy musicians with stars of today.

USA, 96min, Spanish Premiere

Director: Martin Shore (In attendance)

Salaryman

A salaryman is a white-collar worker in Japan who devotes his life to his employer. This work ethic built the country into the global superpower it is today. Through performance art and animation the doc joins the sensibility of the director with the Japanese office world and questions global work practices of modern-day life imposed by capitalism.

Costa Rica, 76min, European Premiere

Director: Allegra Pacheco

Holy Frit

In this three-year race against time, Tim Carey, a talented, unknown LA artist bluffs his way into winning the commission to create the largest stained-glass window of its kind. The problem is, he doesn’t know how to make it. Tim desperately needs a saviour...and then he meets Narcissus Quagliata.

USA, 120min, European Premiere

Director: Justin Monroe 

Yoghurt Utopia

Whilst society shut down the asylums, it never truly found a place for the mentally ill. But when a young psychologist at a failing institution in Spain took a handful of patients and started a business, it grew into a multi-million dollar yoghurt brand that now employs hundreds of people with mental health problems.

UK, 71min, European Premiere

Director: Anna Thomson, David Baksh

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS ‘MADE IN BALEARES’ in international competition (5)

Sonic Fantasy

In the early eighties in Los Angeles, Bruce Swedien embarked on a project that revolutionized the music industry forever. For the first time, those involved in that project tell the unknown story behind Bruce's work and how his talent ended up being an essential piece in the history of popular culture

Spain, 97min, World Premiere

Director: Marcos Cabotá (In attendance)

Canvis

Four women who left their homes and countries in the 1960's and early 70's to live, up to this day, on the islands of Mallorca , Ibiza and the city of Barcelona. An era and beginning of the tourist boom. They talk about the changes of leaving their homes and families, and living in a different culture and learning a new language.

Spain, 50min, World Premiere

Director: Josep Owen Balanzat Goddard, Joan Vallespir Castillo (In attendance)

Living Without a Country

A violent trace has chased the Rohingya community for decades. Massive killings, tortures and rapes by the Burmese army has conditioned their day to day living. As a Muslim community, they are discriminated by a military regime that resists to disappear. Today, more than a million people in Bangladesh await a peaceful and free return.

Spain, 60min, Spanish Premiere

Director: Alberto Martos (In attendance)

A Ballet Full of Tango

An in-depth encounter with the creative process of the Pasodos Dance Company in Mallorca. A look into the young dancer's life, suffering, and joy to finally shine on stage in the performance of "Tango Woman Ballet".

Spain, 50min, World Premiere

Director: Nathalie Kraft (In attendance)

Kayak No Limits - Menorca in the Dark

A young man from Girona with visual impairment and physical disability sets off to circumnavigate the island of Menorca in an individual kayak, only guided by his friend's Rai Puig voice. During this journey, the senses of hearing and smell become his GPS. A challenge that claims people's abilities over limitations.

Spain, 50min, European Premiere

Director: Isaac Padrós Suárez (In attendance)

SHORT FILMS

Jack And Jo Don’t Want To Die 

On My Mind

Empty Frame

Yéyé

Dolapo Is Fine

Auto

Body Of The Mind

5hr, 39 Min, 25 Sec

Yo, Diablo

Iskra 

Tuk Tuk

Ala Kachuu - Take And Run

Doah 

Prime Of Your Life

A Little Less Conversation

A Birthday 

Caravan

The Hideaway

Two Options

Annie

Aska

Survivors

Imposible Decirte Adiós 

Fenomenal

Sense Postre 

Me Voy 

The Dance Of The Starling 

Black Wool

Burros 

The Treatment

Alba

All Blood Runs Red

Stanbrook

The Downpour

Hitzig - Ein Saunagang

Circular Ruins 

Faith

Paris - Montreal 

The Catch (NFMLA)

Headwind

Fabiu

Sol Sol

Lightnings

Windowless

November 1st 

J’ai Le Cafard

Panama Man

Hit The Road

Volatile

Nerea By The Sea

Table For Two

Sergi & Irina 

Remember Me

Agua (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Handbook For A Privileged European Woman (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Good German Work (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Virgin My Ass (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Waid (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Remind Me (Student Shorts – Out of Competition)

Ain’t No Mercy For Rabbits (Student Shorts – Out of Competition))

Papi (NFMLA) (Documentary)

Manzanal (NFMLA) (Documentary)

Flamenco Queer (Documentary)

Nando (Documentary)

Osha (Documentary)

Women’s Confinement (Documentary)

Sighting 1978 (Documentary)

Cuando voy a un sitio nuevo (Documentary)

Ulisses (Documentary)

Numdi Oodi True History (Documentary)

The full 2021 Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival programme will be available online from October 13^th 2021 at

www.evolutionfilmfestival.com