FANCINE OPENS THE WEEK WITH A LINE-UP FULL OF SPANISH PRODUCTIONS

‘La Pasajera’ opens the ‘Fantástico nacional’ section on the afternoon when Samcreta presents the premiere of ’Lo que pudo ser: 2084’.

A 31st Fancine with an accent of its own. The fantastic film festival of the University of Málaga has begun the new week with a line-up in which Spanish productions stand out, as a novelty with respect to other editions. After screenings of 'La Hija' and 'Visitante', Monday was marked by the premiere of 'Lo que pudo ser: 2084', the new project by the Samcreta collective of creators, and the presentation of 'La Pasajera', a film co-directed by Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González, which inaugurated the National Fantastic section, with which the university event aspires to provide its line-up with a greater presence of Spanish titles.

Ramiro Blas is the protagonist of the film, a road movie where he takes a mother and daughter and a Mexican tourist on a shared trip in his van, and, after taking in an injured hiker, all the occupants must avoid sitting next to her. The three guests from the film's crew attended a Q&A session at the end of the film, dealing with issues such as the cast selection process, Blas' preparation for playing his character, and the lack of fantasy genre influences in Spanish cinema.

At the same time, the Samcreta collective presented 'Lo que pudo ser 2084'. The creative trio formed by the Audiovisual Communication students at the University of Málaga Paflo, Álex del Arco and Enrique Camacho have made several short films, a webseries and even other feature films prior to the one they premiered at the Rectorate, all of them independently, self-financed and because of "too much love of it", they joked. Although they plan to upload it to their YouTube channel in December, this screening was the world premiere of the film, set in a utopia in which four friends get together to celebrate a birthday without knowing that one of them will die that night. After the screening, a discussion took place in which the audience could share their impressions, congratulate those responsible for the project and ask questions to the young team members.

However, this presence of national titles was combined with other interesting films that passed through the screens of Alcazabilla street, such as the first screening of 'Hinterland', the only screening with voting for the day, a feature film by the Oscar-winning Stefan Ruzowitzky set after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Monday also saw the arrival in Malaga of 'Mad God', a stop motion film by the famous special effects specialist Phil Tippet, which has been thirty years in the making.

The day's agenda was rounded off with a talk in the Contenedor Cultural given by Olga Guerrero, professor of Chemical Engineering at the UMA, who spoke about the possibilities of hydrogen as a source of energy, highlighting the latest advances being made in this respect, under the title 'Will water be the fuel of the future?'. The speaker structured her speech around three main factors: hydrogen production, hydrogen safety and hydrogen storage. As a cinematic complement to this informative activity, the Teatinos campus stage also hosted a screening of the Robert Zemeckis classic 'Back to the Future', starring the unforgettable Marty McFly and the mad scientist Doc Brown. Before the session, attendees were able to stop by the DeLorean photocall set up in the site's garden.

Tuesday's programme

Short films will be the undisputed protagonists of Tuesday with the screenings of the animation and live-action sections in competition. The young jury, made up of students from the different Andalusian public universities, will be in charge of assessing the films and determining the winners in each category, a podium that will also include the public's choice award through digital voting. The Albéniz will not be the only stage with short films, as the Contenedor Cultural will also host the screenings of two more titles: 'Au Pair' and 'Ivy'. As for the feature films, the competition will end with 'Veneciafrenia', the latest work by Álex de la Iglesia. And the meetings with the spectators will bid farewell to this edition with the presence of the director Javi Camino, who will present the film 'Jacinto' at Fancine, accompanied by the main actor, Pedro Brandariz. Finally, and in line with this year's theme, Enrique Viguera will give a lecture on genetics entitled 'Vuelve Gattaca'.