The Seville European Film Festival, which would celebrate its twentieth edition in November, is scheduled for spring 2024, a change in dates that has taken professionals in the sector by surprise, who receive the news with sadness and resignation. Quite a setback for lovers of the seventh art who met in the Seville capital and for members of the industry, who organize their agendas based on the different festivals to release or promote their films.
The celebration of the Latin Grammys in the Seville capital in the same month that the film festival has traditionally been held has been the argument used by the city council to justify the change of plans, an explanation that does not convince the film industry at all, all time it is highlighted that bureaucratic problems have forced the move of such a consolidated event on the calendar.
“The perfect storm has formed”, explains Agus Jiménez, president of the Andalusian Association of Women in Audiovisual Media (AAMMA), to this newspaper, “on the one hand, someone with no experience in previous editions has been placed in charge of the festival He did not yet have a team formed; municipal elections have been held (this event depends 100% on the city council) and the appointments of the new government took place at the end of June, so the new director, Tito Rodríguez, has not had any interlocutor with whom to speak; and, finally, that it is August and there are still many bureaucratic issues to do”.
Rodríguez took over from José Cienfuegos, the previous director, a few months ago, and has been the one who has proposed, as confirmed by official sources, to alter the date of the festival due to the impossibility of complying with the bureaucratic procedures.
It was yesterday when Minerva Salas, Culture delegate of the new government team led by the popular José Luis Sanz, made this news known, which caused alarm, fear and fear in the sector and gave rise to controversy. Although there are dissenting voices on this matter, they all have one thing in common: November is the best date to celebrate the Seville Film Festival as long as it is in spring, with the April Fair and Holy Week, the life of the city. it is altered and ends up becoming very expensive.
"For many producers, this has fallen like a jug of cold water because they have their plans and their calendar," acknowledges Marta Velasco, president of the Andalusian Film Academy, "but we must support the festival and help the director, who We have already had our hand, because we do not know what the circumstances have been for the new team or what the transition has been like. The appropriate date is November, but let's work so that the change to this spring does not pose a risk, ”she says.
The one who does consider that this modification endangers the image, brand and international projection of the festival is Carlos Redondo, president of Andalucía Film Commission, who thinks that the change is "bad news" for all film professionals and for Seville , which in November becomes the prelude to the European Film Awards. "The reasons that the city council argues are not very consistent, and if the date is changed for technical reasons, the person in charge would have to be fired," he told this newspaper. "It is true that the previous director (who resigned from his position prematurely) has not behaved reasonably or loyal to the festival he directed and has left without doing his homework," he explains, but he considers it "irresponsible" to go to spring the celebration because it means turning "upside down" the entire structure and the pieces that compose it. “The industry has already closed the agenda, it has already been decided where the films are going to be taken to promote them and now there is little margin left”, he explains.
“The planning is altered. There will be productions that had in mind to come here and that will have to change their strategies, but this is something very specific and in the film industry we are very used to it", says José Alba, president of ANCINE (Association of Audiovisual Production Companies and Independent Producers of Andalusia). Alba welcomes this change with "optimism" and insists that other important festivals, such as Sundance or Guadalajara, have also undergone some change in the agenda, as has happened in recent years with the Malaga Film Festival. . ANCINE trusts the management of Tito Rodríguez and its president is sure that he "will organize a wonderful festival".
He, like Marta Velasco, consider it unnecessary to blame this situation and insist that bureaucratic problems are the cause of this postponement that the Festival will take to the end of April, according to the dates that the mayor of the Seville capital has handled today.
"Let's hope that this change is temporary," insists Agus Jiménez, who hopes that it will be possible to return to autumn in the next editions since it is on these dates that the premieres for the end of the year take place, although the president of the AAMMA fears that the city council is not fully "aware" of the importance of this cultural event itself, of the dimension it has and of the wealth it generates. "I think that it has not been a priority and it has not been attended to with sufficient interest," she concludes.
