Scotland's Catalan Film Festival back with sellout opening session

Scotland's annual Catalan Film Festival is back on Saturday evening with an opening session that has proved to be very successful.

According to organizers, the party that will mean the kick-off of more than three weeks of Catalan cinema has sold out.

Called 'festa major,' honoring the annual local celebrations that take place across Catalonia throughout the year, the opening celebration will bring together Catalan food, short films and a Castellers show (human towers), reclaiming the social value of cinema and community spirit.

Held in Edinburgh's St Peter's Episcopal Church Hall, the event will also include the screening of short films.

This will be the starter of a menu that will end on February 15 and that will include screenings of the most successful Catalan films of 2022 in several sites.

'Alcarràs,' winner of the 2022 Berlinale's Golden Bear, by Carla Simón, is shown in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, while Albert Serra's 'Pacifiction' will premiere in Scotland at Edinburgh's Summerhall, before being also screened in Glasgow.

Films such as 'Dúo', 'Mi vacío y yo', 'Un año, una noche' and 'El sostre groc' are other Catalan productions to be shown in Scotland.

Several short films will also be available in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow, as an effort to show "strong support to new Catalan emerging talent," say organizers.

The Catalan Film Festival is run by Spanish & Latin American film collective CinemaAttic, with Catalonia's Institut Ramon Llull organizer for cultural promotion abroad as main partner and co-organiser.

Other festival partners include Screen Scotland, Estrella Damm, Catalan Films, Colla Castellera d’Edinburgh and Centre Català d’Escòcia.

The last edition of the event was held in November and December 2021.

On top of films, the Catalan Film Festival also includes talks including one on the making of 'Dúo,' run by its director, Meritxell Colell, and a panel discussion on the queer representation in film.