Second edition of BCN Film Fest kicks off

A wonderland for film lovers opens up this Friday with the opening of the second edition of the Barcelona Sant Jordi International Film Festival (BCN FILM FEST). Verdi Cinemas, located in the heart of the charming Barcelona neighbourhood of Gràcia, is the setting for an extensive selection of international films widely related to literature and/or history. In total 38 titles are on the program of this year's edition. Among the films to be screened the coming week, there is a world premiere, as well as 18 films premiering in Spain and seven in Catalonia. 

The filmmaker Mike Newell, known for directing films such as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' and 'Donnie Brasco', was in charge of inaugurating the BCN FILM FEST on Friday morning with his latest movie 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'. 

The opening film, which portrays some of the consequences of World War II, is a romantic drama about a writer who finds the plot of her next book in a letter from a stranger from Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel, which was occupied by the Nazis during the war. 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' is the film adaptation of the bestseller of the same name and it stars Lily James, Michiel Huisman, Tom Courtenay and Matthew Goode.

The festival's Official Selection includes 'A taxi driver' by Jang Hoon; 'Barefoot' by Jan Sverák; 'Borg McEnroe' by Janus Metz; 'The Royal Exchange' by Marc Dugain; 'Chappaquiddick' by John Curran; 'In Times of Fading Light', by Matti Geschonneck; 'The Music of Silence', by Michael Radford; 'Film stars don’t die in Liverpool', by Paul McGuigan; 'Maria by Callas' by Tom Volf; 'Mary Shelley', by Haifaa Al-Mansour; 'Rebel in the Rye', by Danny Strong, and '7 days in Entebbe' by José Padilha. This second edition of BCN Film Fest is celebrated from April 20 to April 27 at the Verdi Cinemas in Gràcia, Barcelona.