Seminci incorporates the Patio Herreriano Museum and the Casa de la India as new venues for  screenings and events

• The Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art will screen several titles related to the fine arts on Velázquez, Gauguin, Remedios Varo and a number of  contemporary artists.
• Casa de la India will host the screening of the documentary Ahimsa Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless and the celebration of the festival of Diwali on 24 October.

The Valladolid International Film Festival will incorporate Patio Herreriano – Museum of Spanish Contemporary Art and Casa de la India as new venues for screenings and events in the upcoming  67th edition of the festival, which will take place from 22 to 29 October.

Housing a collection of Spanish contemporary art from 1918 to the present day, Patio Herreriano is located in one of the cloisters of the Monastery of San Benito, built in the Renaissance period by architect Juan de Ribero Rada and subject to exemplary restoration.

In this venue, the festival will be screening four titles, all of them related to art: An Imaginary Land, by Juan Solanas (France/Uruguay, 2022); Gauguin and Canal, by Frank Spano (Panama/Argentina, 2022); Remedios Varo. Mystery and Revelation, by Tufic Makhlouf Akl (Mexico/France, 2013), and Velázquez, el poder y el arte, by José Manuel Gómez Vidal (Spain, 2022).

In his documentary An Imaginary Land, Argentinean director Juan Solanas explores the work of twelve influential contemporary artists from around the world in a cinematic experience that makes us reflect on art and the way we perceive it: Antonio López García, Theo Jansen, Liliana Porter, Luis Felipe Noé, Denis Monfleur, Eduardo Stupía, Leandro Erlich, Susumo Shingu, Antonio Seguí, Mario Gurfeil, Ana Tiscornia and Pat Andrea.

Gauguin and Canal fictionalises the trial of the post-impressionist painter by the French authorities in Tahiti. In the course of these events, the artist has glimpses into the past, especially into his life and work on the Panama Canal. Frank Spano’s film stars Roberto Birindelli, Juan Carlos Avedaño, Cristina Maduro and Mónica Gronchi.

Tufic Makhlouf Akl pays tribute in Remedios Varo. Mystery and Revelation to this Catalan-born Mexican painter (Anglès, Girona, 1908-Mexico City, 1963), one of the most prominent artists of the Surrealist movement. Her life was marked by the Spanish Civil War and World War II, her Mexican exile and her last years of artistic maturity, virtuoso strokes and unattainable dreams.

In Velázquez, el poder y el arte, José Manuel Gómez Vidal portrays the painter’s constant search for the favour of power: first in his native Seville, where he frequented the circles of power, and later at the Court, where in the service of King Philip IV he learned that a painter’s glory depended on his proximity to the powerful. The documentary includes the testimonies of experts such as Luis Méndez, Miguel Ángel Cajigal “El Barroquista”, Álvaro Perdices, Miguel Zorita, Alfonso Guerra, Javier Olivares and Alexandra del Bene.

Casa de la India

Established in Valladolid in 2003 as a cultural foundation, Spain’s Casa de la India will be  host to several events in its Valladolid headquarters, an early 20th century building situated on the Street named Puente Colgante. Casa de la India will be presenting  the screening of Ramesh Sharma’s documentary Ahimsa Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless (India, 2021) on the occasion of Diwali -the Hindu New Year- on 24 October.

The film narrates the worldwide impact of Gandhi’s message of Non-violence through interviews with internationally renowned scholars and biographers, as well as with close relatives of Mahatma Gandhi and Nobel laureates such as the Dalai Lama or the former president of Poland Lech Walesa. The film likewise features archival materials, photographs and inspirational songs.

In addition to the screening, on 24 October Seminci and Casa de la India will organise an event consisting in the celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival also known as the festival of lights dedicated to the beginning of the Hindu new year, one of the most significant and joyful nights of the Hindu calendar.