The Regional Government of Castile and León presents ‘Comunidad SEMINCI’ with the aim of extending the festival to more provinces this summer

• The first edition will be held in Salamanca, Béjar, La Bañeza, Ponferrada and Soria. The goal is to present a new program within the framework of Seminci 2021 and to continue growing in territorial coverage and films selected in future editions.

The regional Minister of Culture and Tourism, Javier Ortega, presented today at Salamanca’s Film Library of Castile and León,, the project ‘Comunidad Seminci’, within the framework of a collaboration between the regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Valladolid International Film Festival. The director of Seminci, Javier Angulo, the director of Salamanca’s cinemateque , Maite Conesa, the first deputy mayor of the Salamanca City Council, Ana Suárez, and the Councilor for Culture of the Valladolid City Council, Ana Redondo, also participated in the presentation.

For several years now, the regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Film Library of Castile and León, and the Valladolid International Film Festival have entertained the idea of putting up a collaboration scheme in order to screen award-winning films at Seminci, or films that were programmed in the Festival’s Official Section, in several towns and cities of the autonomous community. The initiative, which was already presented in the previous edition of the Film Week during the day dedicated to Cinema in Castile and León, starts being implemented today with the screening in Salamanca’s Film Library of ‘What We Did on Our Holiday’, by Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton (2014). The next screenings will take place starting June 16 in the towns of Béjar, La Bañeza, Ponferrada, Soria and Salamanca (you can read the complete program at the end of this news item). The aim is to present a new edition of ‘Comunidad Seminci’ within the framework of the forthcoming Valladolid Festival: one featuring a more extensive program and covering more territories.

A key element of the region’s identity

The regional minister claimed that this new programme will serve “to project the festival beyond its usual venues and dates of celebration and to consolidate it as a fundamental element of the cultural identity of Castile and León, recognized by citizens in the nine provinces, who from now on, will be able to enjoy quality film programmes built on the selection criteria that have made Seminci one of the most prestigious festivals on the national and international film scene “.

The film program ‘Comunidad Seminci’ is an initiative that represents a further step in institutional collaboration between local administrations and the regional government or Junta de Castilla y León, and responds to the need to extend quality cinema, usually enjoyed by viewers of the Valladolid International Film Festival, to other towns and cities in the region.

This initiative follows others that singularly affect the audiovisual sector and that have also seen the light in recent weeks, such as the new website of the Filmoteca de Castilla y León (the region’s Film Library or Cinemateque) , which, in addition to bringing its own services closer to citizens, has now created a new space to provide via online the services of the Film Commission of Castile and León, the Ministry’s platform to attract film shoots to Castile and León.

During his speech, the regional Minister also referred to the promotion of audiovisual productions through different lines of subsidies granted by the Junta which, in the last year alone, have made possible the take-off of more than twenty film projects, including both long and short films.

All of this output is showcased every year in different sections of the Valladolid Festival which serve to publicize the region’s audiovisual creations, along with others from elsewhere, while always meeting artistic quality standards that will also be the hallmark of the ‘Comunidad Seminci’ programme.

The Film Library of Castile and León

The presentation of this program at the headquarters of the Filmoteca de Castilla y León has served to highlight the work of this institution, which, to its many projects, now adds this new programme. From the point of view of the conservation and dissemination of cinema, Castile and León’s Film Library continues with its work of exhibition and dissemination of film and photography. Additionally, it has just launched its new website with innovative content, including its C&L Film Library Channel. Its holdings include about 4,800 records in film format and almost 63,000 videographic records, as well as an important photographic collection that amounts to about of five million documents, all of which comforms the valuable audiovisual heritage of Castilian and Leonese people.

‘Comunidad SEMINCI’: the programme

The selected programme of ‘Comunidad SEMINCI’ includes four titles that were screened in the Festival’s Official Section in past editions: ‘What We Did in Our Holiday’, by Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton (United Kingdom), Audience Award at the 59th edition; ‘Coming Home’, by Zhang Yimou (China), also scheduled in 2014; ‘Mustang’, by Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar), which won six awards at the 2015 edition: Silver Spike, ‘Pilar Miró’ Award for Best New Director, Audience Award, FIPRESCI (Film Critics’) Award, Young Seminci Award and Sociograph Award; and ‘The Distinguished Citizen’, by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (Argentina), which won the Silver Spike and the ‘Miguel Delibes’ Award for Best Screenplay in the 61st edition of the contest.