This was stated by the director at a press conference prior to the inaugural gala of the XVIII edition of the Alicante Film Festival, which will start this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the ADDA Auditorium and in which the film director will receive the award honorary.
Coixet has ensured that he appreciates “the desire” of people to return to events “that shed light on films”, while stressing that holding competitions such as the Alicante Film Festival in Alicante is an opportunity for an audience who has not been able to get close to a movie theater for a year.
“After a difficult year, these initiatives are perfect for a reencounter of the public with theaters and with the cinema,” the director stressed about the event that starts this weekend. Likewise, this afternoon his latest film ‘Nieva en Benidorm’ will be screened in Kinépolis at 6:00 p.m.
The director and screenwriter, asked about the “formula” to get people to return to the movies after the pandemic, has alluded to the “lack of curiosity and culture” of families to go to the movies because “millions of adolescents have not stepped on a room “.
“I think the issue is at the origin, in promoting curiosity, young people do not go to the movies but there was already a certain reluctance on the part of parents because there is no culture or curiosity to encourage going to the movies,” he says.
Coixet has confessed to having “a very special connection” with Alicante thanks to the filming of his film ‘Nieva en Benidorm’, “one of the most beautiful” of his life, he said. “Thanks to the Festival, people who due to the pandemic did not have the opportunity to see this and other films will be able to see it,” he valued.
“The Alicante Festival is a place that I could not fail, because they were many years trying to come and always for something in the end I did not come. Receiving an award like this makes me think about the passing of the years, sometimes I think they are not necessary, but they are. The awards and festivals like the one in Alicante help us to reconnect with the public and see the reaction of the people to your work, “he says. Isabel Coixet has been” satisfied “to receive the Lucentum Prize, which honors the trajectory of Spanish directors.
For his part, the director of the Film Festival, Vicente Seva, has indicated that “there is no career like that of Isabel Coixet, the most awarded director in our country, the woman with the most Goya awards and the National Cinematography Award.”
“He is a benchmark for his great work and his particular and unique style. We are very proud that he was able to come to share with us the coming of age of the Festival and receive this award,” said Seva.
Finally, the vice president and delegate of the Culture area of the Alicante Provincial Council, Julia Parra, highlighted the extensive and significant career of Isabel Coixet and thanked her for her presence, which she considers “a great support for this festival that, year after year year, it is gaining weight on the national and international scene thanks to the work of the organizers, led by Vicente Seva, and the involvement of the sector “.
He has also pledged to continue supporting this initiative “with which we want to show our strongest support for the cinema after a year of intermission that has caused great havoc throughout the cultural sector, but we are beginning to take breath and see the light little by little.”
PROGRAM
This Saturday starts the 18th edition of the Alicante Film Festival, which will be held from May 29 to June 5, with more than a hundred works, including short films, feature films and invited films, which will be screened from Sunday in the different sections and venues of the contest.
The kick-off will take place at the opening gala, presented by the actor Luis Larrodera, on the 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Alicante Provincial Council Auditorium and can be followed in streaming on the À Punt website.
The Auditorium will receive the actresses Inma Cuesta and Kiti Mánver, who will receive the City of Alicante and Honor Awards of the contest, respectively, together with the director Isabel Coixet, awarded with the Lucentum Prize.
The inaugural gala of the Alicante Film Festival will also present the juries that make up the competition sections of the contest, among which is the official jury chaired this year by the Goya-awarded Alicante director, Pilar Pérez Solano, as well like all the films that will be screened over the next week within the framework of the contest. The Mailers group will take the stage to flood a gala brimming with cinema and talent with music.
The melodies continue on Sunday at 11.00 with a concert of Soundtracks by the Alicante Municipal Symphonic Band at the ADDA dedicated to the figure of the filmmaker Luis García Berlanga.
Within the Berlanga Year, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, a film series has also been organized in which ‘Welcome, Mister Marshall’, ‘Plácido’, ‘La escopeta nacional’ and ‘La vaquilla’ will be screened.
That same day, the animation short films in competition will be screened, a total of 12 works, while on Monday it will be the turn of the first part of the Mediterranean short films in competition and the international shorts in competition. The 18 Spanish short films in competition will be able to be seen during three days.
In addition, the works in competition continue with the LGTBI section, with 13 titles, while the short films of Alicante Cinema, will be 15.
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