'Second Prize', by Isaki Lacuesta, will inaugurate a D'A Film Festival with the best auteur cinema

Isaki Lacuesta, one of the most awarded directors in Spanish cinema, will premiere his new film at D'A 2024, Second Prize, co-directed with Pol Rodríguez and scripted by Lacuesta himself and the writer Fernando Navarro.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
25 February 2024 Sunday 15:30
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'Second Prize', by Isaki Lacuesta, will inaugurate a D'A Film Festival with the best auteur cinema

Isaki Lacuesta, one of the most awarded directors in Spanish cinema, will premiere his new film at D'A 2024, Second Prize, co-directed with Pol Rodríguez and scripted by Lacuesta himself and the writer Fernando Navarro. The film, which will premiere at the Paral·lel 62 theater and will be attended by the director and the artistic team, is a work of fiction inspired by the story of the Granada group Los Planetas, deans of Spanish indie music, at the time. which will lead them to the recording of their third album, A week in the engine of a bus (1998).

An album resulting from the vital turbulence of its protagonists, faced with the ghosts of separation and self-destruction, which will forever change the life of the group and the history of Spanish music.

The Barcelona Film Festival reaches its 14th edition, from April 4 to 14, as a showcase for the best independent and auteur cinema worldwide. The complete programme, which will be announced soon, will consist of around 120 films, including feature films and shorts, and will feature around 60 guests who will present their works and engage in dialogue with the festival audience.

In the first trailer released by the contest, essential names in contemporary cinema appear such as Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Sobre la herb seca, award for best actress at Cannes 2023; Lisandro Alonso (Jauja), who reunites with Viggo Mortensen in Eureka; French director Catherine Corsini with Le Retour, an intergenerational story that combines an identity portrait and coming-of-age; or Critical Zone, by director Ali Ahmadzadeh, winner of the Golden Leopard at the last Locarno festival and awarded at the Seminci.

Two essential titles land from Argentina. Martin Shanly (Talents of A 2015 award) returns to the festival with Arturo at 30, an investigation into the precariousness and social discomfort that surrounds a certain not-so-young youth.

For her part, director Paula Hernández takes Sergi López to deeper Argentina in The Wind That Devastates. From much more elusive cinematography we get films that do not leave us indifferent, such as the Spanish premiere of Snow Leopard, a posthumous work by Tibetan director Pema Tseden and winner at the Tokyo Festival. From Greece comes Animal, the new film by Sofía Exarchou (awarded in San Sebastián for her first film), Locarno award for best actress. Also awarded at Locarno, Éléonore Saintagnan's promising debut with Camping du lac, a docufiction with a fascinating story with a story-like aura and climate awareness. Regarding Spanish cinema, Lolo will be screened

This year, the D'A will dedicate its Focus to Catherine Breillat, a historic French filmmaker who has always moved on the margins, and who achieved in her maturity a recognition that had always eluded her. Her latest work, The Last Summer, had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and was considered by Cahiers du Cinéma as one of the best films of last year. Her films have often focused on the exploration of female desire and have broken down barriers at the boundaries of the representation of sex. The Focus dedicated to the filmmaker, in collaboration with the Filmoteca de Catalunya, is made up of nine films, including À ma soeur!, Anatomy of hell, Parfait amour! and Romance