The Girona Film Festival will showcase 175 films from 35 different countries from around the world

Girona (ACN). - The 26^th edition of the Girona Film Festival, which runs from the 15^th to the 19^th of July, will screen175 films, made up of both full-length and short features originating from 35 different countries. The festival will kick off with the 1962 film Los Culpables (in English, The Guilty Ones), directed by Josep Maria Forn and shot in Girona, a city in the north-east of Catalonia. The film will be returned to the screens this year thanks to its restoration by producer Isidor Llorca. The festival will also include a new section entitled ´Made in Costa Brava Girona´, which unites both old and new films shot in the region. In total, the event is made up of 14 sections and will award non-monetary prizes in six of these. Amongst the judging panel the festival is proud to announce the presence of acclaimed Spanish artist and designer, Javier Mariscal.

The Girona Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the city, completing its 26^th edition this year. Its director, Lluís Valentí, states that the festival seeks to include all varieties of film, and does not specialise in any particular genre or format, unlike other such film festivals. Instead, the event seeks to promote all the films which it screens.

For this edition of the festival, the organisers were presented with over 2,000 films, of which 175 were selected, originating from 35 different countries. The first feature that will open the festival will be Los Culpables, which was entirely shot in Girona in 1962 by the Catalonian film-maker, Josep Maria Forn. It has been restored to the screens especially for this festival by Catalan producer, Isidor Llorca, originally from Lloret de Mar, a nearby town on the Costa Brava. The film tells the tale of a businessman on the verge of bankruptcy who decides to fake his own death along with the help of his wife and her lover. According to the Director of the festival, the screening of Los Culpables will present the unique opportunity to discover how Girona has changed in the last 50 years.

The festival is made up of 14 different sections devoted to various genres including; independent films, short films made by directors from Girona, web series, animation, gay and lesbian cinema, Jewish cinema and children´s films, among others. Furthermore, this year the Girona Tourism Board has included a new section entitled ´Made in Costa Brava Girona´, which unites old and new films shot in the area.

A commitment to film promotion

Of the 14 sections, the film festival will present awards in six of them. The Director of the festival maintains that he has never wanted these awards to be cash prizes as he wants to save the "low budget" of the event for the promotion of all of the films which are included in the programme. The judging panel for these awards will consist of designer and co-director of the Spanish animated hit, Chico and Rita, Javier Mariscal; film critic for Catalonia's main newspaper, La Vanguardia, Lluís Bonet; writer and journalist of cultural affairs, Miguel-Fernando Ruiz de Villalobos, director of Barcelona´s Cuban Film Festival, Judit Ruiz del Castillo; art critic, Pilar Parcerisas; and, journalist and expert in TV series, Toni de la Torre. Prizes will be awarded on the last day of the festival, Saturday the 19^th July, at the Girona´s Municipal Theatre. This year's winners will receive an award designed by Mister Karton, a Barcelona-based company which produces environmentally-friendly furniture made from sustainable designs which use cardboard and wood as their base.

A variety of venues

The film festival´s venues will include: Girona´s Municipal Theatre, the Casa de Cultura, the Valvi Foundation, the Albèniz Cinemas and the Bonastruc de Porta Center. In addition, screenings of the animated section of the festival will be held at the Toy Museum in Figueres, a large town located north of Girona, near the Costa Brava and the French border.

Wide ranging support

The festival programme was presented at the Girona's City Council last Thursday, who agreed to collaborate with the Province Council of Girona in its support for the event. The Councillor for Business and Employment, Marta Madrenas, and the Representative for Cultural Cooperation from the Province Council, Antoni Solà, have also backed the festival and have stated their commitment to ensuring the influence of the event continues to grow.