2021 – Nº 3

EDITORIAL

RE-ENCOUNTERS AND DEBUTS

The Valladolid Festival’s commitment to auteur cinema encourages the yearly return of old friends and acquaintances of Seminci whose films often reached Spanish audiences via this film competition. One of those friends is Robert Guédiguian, who today joins the list of candidates to the Film Week’s ‘Spikes’ with his latest work: Mali Twist. The subject of a retrospective in 1999, the Gold Spike winner a year later with The Town is Quiet, and the president of the International Jury in 2004, Guédiguian has presented many of his iconic titles at Seminci and is among the most awarded directors in the history of the Valladolid contest.

Another filmmaker who joins the Official Section today reminds us of the festival’s past and present, and also of the regular convergence at Seminci of emergent and consolidated film creators. Panah Panahi makes his feature debut (and his first-time appearance at the Valladolid competition) with Hit The Road, but his last name sounds very familiar in Valladolid: his father, Jafar Panahi, won the Golden Spike ex aequo in the 48th edition with Talaye sorgh (Crimson Gold).

The main showcase of Seminci is likewise joined today by another representative of the latest Nordic cinema, the Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who will present his film The Worst Person in the World on a day which also hosts the celebration of close-tohome film productions in the gala dedicated to Castile and León, during which a Spike of Honour will be presented to beloved Valladolid-born actor Emilio Gutiérrez Caba.