Closed since September 17, 2021, almost a year and two months ago, the cinemas Albéniz Plaça reopenfor a week, to host until Sunday the Girona Film Festival. The 34th edition of the exhibition was presented this morning and has already offered the first screenings, but it will be tomorrow evening (8pm) when it is officially inaugurated with the documentary about the Roca brothers Sowing the future by Alberto Utrera.
This year, the most extensive program is proposed, with 424 screenings, including short and feature films, grouped into 55 programs. The organizers have explained that 2,496 feature films, short films, documentaries, cartoons, web series, video clips and video creations have been presented, coming from more than 90 different countries around the world. But also one of the highlights will be the festival’s educational program, which will be attended by 8,000 schoolchildren from 45 centers in Girona and Barcelona (the latter will follow it online). This morning the first half a thousand boys and girls have already attended the first steps and then they will continue to work in class to decide which titles should be awarded in this category.
During the presentation of the Girona Film Festival its director, Louis Valentine, spoke about the importance of allocating resources to local talent: “If there is talent there is no crisis. It is necessary to make the policies of Catalonia and Spain invest in local productions, because there is money but it needs to stay at home, for banks and investors to invest in local talent». He also emphasized that the program of this edition is an example of this, “there are American film sessions scheduled around local sessions, we want to highlight the talent here. Let’s make sure that the cinemas don’t have to close, without art the city dies and remains sad, and we can’t afford it.’
One of the great novelties of this year are the Blender Conferences, co-organized with ERAM and the Casa de Cultura, which put 3D digital technology on the table. Between Friday and Sunday there will be international conferences by major developers of 3D technology and cinematographic projections. Thirty of the fifty-five sessions will be using Blender technology or similar software. The Conference will be inaugurated by the Chancellor of the University Quim Salvi. On Sunday, November 13, in a gala, the prizes corresponding to the 12 categories in competition and the Albéniz Plaça, like the Albéniz center, will be awarded they will close again with no plans in sight to reopen.