Catalan co-production 'Aloft' by Claudia Llosa and film on the Roca Chefs, at the 2014 Berlinale

Barcelona (ACN).- Catalan cinema will once again play a significant part in this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), with the presentation of two feature films and one short-film. The Catalan co-production Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), by Claudia Llosa, who also directed the 2009 Golden Bear winner The Milk of Sorrow, will compete in the official section of the festival, held between the 6^th and the 16^th of February. The latest film of the Barcelona-resident and Peruvian Director narrates the encounter of a mother (Jennifer Connelly) with her son (Cillian Murphy), who had been separated by an accident and will be reunited thanks to a young journalist (Mélanie Laurent). ‘El somni’ (The Dream) directed by Franc Aleu and centred on the creative dishes of the Roca brothers, universally acclaimed Catalan Chefs, will be screened during the ‘Culinary’ session of the festival, experimenting with the limits of the senses. Finally, short-film lovers will discover ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom, and produced by the ‘Fura dels Baus’ a Barcelona theatrical group famous for its innovative performances. During the festival, over 60 Catalan companies including producers and distributors will travel to the German capital looking for projects and co-producers or to make sales.

‘El somni’ (The Dream) will be screened on the 10^th of February during the ‘Culinary’ session of the Festival, dedicated to gastronomy and the pleasure of the senses. The film, directed by Franc Aleu and produced by Mediapro, with the collaboration of the City Council of Barcelona, ​​reveals the unique creative process of an opera-like dinner, involving over 40 artists and staged in 12 gourmet dishes by the Roca brothers, who run, in the Catalan city of Girona, the World’s Best Restaurant, according to 'Restaurant' magazine. This film, according to its producer, “adopts the language ​​used in documentaries, combined with the narrative techniques of art-house, fiction and animation films”.

40 artists involved in a multidisciplinary creation

The film was shot on the 6^th of May last year, during a banquet held at Barcelona’s Santa Mònica Arts centre. This multidisciplinary dinner served for twelve guests combined music, poetry, gastronomy, painting and opera in a project that experimented with the limits of the senses. The famous Catalan Chef Ferran Adrià, the Painter Miquel Barceló, the Head of the HIV Department of the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias of Badalona Bonaventura Clotet, the Conductor Josep Pons, the Indian Actress Freida Pinto (who is best known for her part in Slumdog millionaire), the Essayist and Poet Rafael Argullol, the American Writer and gourmet specialist Harold McGee, the Physician Lisa Randall, the Anthropologist Joël Candau, the Film Director Nandita Das, the Engineer and Researcher in robotics Abderrahma Kheddar and the Biologist Ben Lehner were the guests who experienced 'El somni' in person.

Artists, musicians and designers have also participated in the project, including Peret, Roland Olbeter, Carlos Fesser, Luca Francesconi, Pedro Alcalde, Sergio Caballero, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Albert Guinovart, Albert Pla, Carles Duarte or Pau Riba, amongst many others.

Aloft by Claudia Llosa, will compete in the official section of the Festival

After having won the Golden Bear for The Milk of Sorrow (‘La teta asustada’) in 2009, the Peruvian Film Director Claudia Llosa, who lives in Barcelona, is returning to the festival with Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), a drama filmed in Canada and starring Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy and Melanie Laurent. In her latest film, Llosa narrates the encounter of a mother (Jennifer Connelly) with her son (Cillian Murphy), who had been separated by an accident. She is a famous artist and healer, and he is a peculiar falconer who was deeply scarred by her absence. A young journalist (Mélanie Laurent) will facilitate the meeting between mother and son, an encounter that will generate a lot of doubts and questions.

Llosa’s film will compete in the official section of the Berlin Film Festival, where it will be screened on the 12^th of February. It will also open the 17^th edition of the Festival de Málaga, which will be held from the 21^st to the 29^th of March. It is produced by Wanda Vision Arcadia with the collaboration of Televisió de Catalunya (the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster), TVE (the Spanish Public Television Broadcaster) and Canal +, and is co-produced by Canada and France.

‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’, was produced by the innovative theatrical group La Fura dels Baus

The other Catalan production, ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom and produced by La Fura dels Baus, Mugaritz and Town of Arita. The short-film is centred on the TABA, the name given to one of the pieces used in board games and the ancestor of the dice. The film presents a group of people in a Basque restaurant in Mugaritz who are playing with a TABA. The winner receives a special dish served in a giant TABA, a piece of porcelain made ​​by Japanese craftsmen.

60 Catalan companies to travel to the German Capital

Catalan Films & TV will have a meeting area in the ‘Cinema From Spain’ stand at the European Film Market (EFM). Over 60 Catalan companies including producers, distributors and sales agents will travel to the German capital looking for projects and co-producers or to make sales.