'Libertad’, the debut feature by Clara Roquet, competes at Semaine de la Critique at Cannes, while two Spanish-directed shorts get their world premiere at the Directors' Fortnight

'Libertad', the first full-length film by the Catalan screenwriter and director Clara Roquet (Vic, 1988), is competing at the 60th Semaine de la Critique at Cannes to be held from 7 through 15 July. Clara Roquet directed and wrote the script of this film produced by Lastor Media and Avalon P.C. (Spain), in coproduction with Bulletproof Cupid (Belgium). The cast of the film is led by Maria Morera, Nicolle Garcia, Nora Navas, Carol Hurtado and Vicky Peña.

The life of 15-year-old Nora changes when Libertad, the daughter of the Colombian woman who looks after her grandmother, arrives to spend the summer with the family. The intense new friendship between the two girls from different backgrounds will mark the arrival of adolescence.

The film was made in collaboration with Radio Televisión Española - RTVE and Televisió de Catalunya - CCMA with the support of ICAA (Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales), ICEC (Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals), MEDIA Desarrollo and Eurimages.

Directors’ Fortnight

Meanwhile, the short ‘Sycorax’ by Lois Patiño and Matías Piñeiro has been selected for the Directors’ Fortnight. Filmed in the Azores and based on one of the characters from Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’, ‘Sycorax’ is produced by Fílmika Galaika (Spain) and Bando à Parte (Portugal). The script was co-written by the two directors and the photography is by Mauro Herce, winner of the Goya Award for Best Cinematography for ‘O que arde’ (Oliver Laxe) in 2020.

In addition, Fortnight will also screen ‘The Windshield Wiper’, the short by the director and animator Alberto Mielgo, a personal vision of love and relationships produced by Leo Sanchez Studio (USA) and Mielgo’s own production company, Pinkman.tv.

‘The Fall of the Swift’ in Cinéfondation and two films in Cannes Classics Selection

The short 'La caída del vencejo' / 'The Fall of the Swift' by Gonzalo Quincoces has been selected to compete in Cinéfondation Selection 2021, the section at Cannes aimed at films schools. Quincoces is a student at ESCAC (Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya) and his fiction short tells the story of a young working-class man in Bizkaia in the 1980s who lives in a suffocating family environment.

The Spanish presence at this year’s festival is rounded off with the screening in the Cannes Classics Selection of a classic film and a documentary. These are, respectively, 'El camino' / 'The Path', the recently restored feature-length film by Ana Mariscal from 1964 and 'Buñuel, un cineasta surrealista', a documentary from 2021 by Javier Espada.

A pioneering director of Iberian cinema, actress, screenwriter and producer, Ana Mariscal directed 10 films which are “as non-conformist as they are visually splendid”, according to the festival’s press release. ‘El camino’ will be released in film theatres in France where it will also be distributed on video in a 4K version for collectors.

'Buñuel, un cineasta surrealista' brilliantly explores the themes of the genius filmmaker and is dedicated to Jean-Claude Carrière, who died earlier this year. The Spanish director has always been closely associated with the Cannes Festival and, in fact, the theatre in which the films in the Classics selection are screened is actually called Buñuel.

More information on Semaine de la Critique here.

Additional details on Director’s Fortnight

More details on Cinéfondation

More information on Cannes Classics Selection