Valladolid Invites Spanish Indies and Student Filmmakers to Sophomore Industry Sidebar
Valladolid’s Seminci International Film Festival will host its 69th edition from October 18-26 and, along with it, the second edition of its new industry sidebar.
Below, we highlight three key events hosted under this year’s Valladolid Industry banner.
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MERCI Valladolid
Among the myriad of activities aimed at filmmakers, producers, buyers and sellers, this year’s industry strand will host the MERCI Valladolid (Mercado de Cine Independiente Valladolid).
For three days, Oct. 23-25, MERCI will serve as a meeting point for 140 screen industry business professionals, including programmers, exhibitors and distributors. Valladolid will invite the accredited professionals to screenings of 22 of the most highly anticipated releases scheduled to hit cinemas through the end of 2024 and all of 2025.
According to organizers, the screenings will help “maximize the titles’ circulation and promote a better exploitation in the run-up to their release.”
In addition to the screenings, MERCI will hold a series of round table discussions about the tools of the trade for promoting commercial film distribution, one of the greatest challenges facing the independent cinema scene in Spain.
After last year’s MERCI, Adicine co-presidents Lara Pérez-Camiña and Enrique Costa declared it “the main event for distribution and exhibition in the Spanish territory. MERCI has demonstrated its capacity for connecting and transforming the independent film industry and the best proof of this is the initiative’s growth edition after edition.”
New this year, MERCI and local public broadcaster RTVE will host a conversation titled Formulas for Boosting the Audience, about new policies and methods for increasing audiences in cinemas and on Spanish TV and platforms. According to Valladolid director Jose Luis Cienfuegos, participants will answer the question: “How can media like television and platforms like RTVE Play contribute to supporting film releases?”
Women Filmmakers’ Forum
Other major events at this year’s industry section include the inaugural Women Filmmaker’s Forum, which take place on Oct. 22. Described by organizers as “A space for diagnosis and for proposals that seeks to amplify women’s voices,” the forum was organized in collaboration with CIMA (Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media Creators), ECAM Industria and broadcaster RTVE.
The forum, which will consist of two round tables moderated by journalist Begoña Donat, is open to anyone interested in attending. There will also be a series of presentations and case studies inspired by the theme: What happens when they take the floor? The transformative power of women in film, both creatively and organizationally.
The first roundtable, organized by Valladolid and Madrid’s ECAM film school, is titled The Future of Independent Production: Challenges for the Replacement. Discussions will revolve around shared experiences in the independent production sector and focus on how women producers will transform it in the coming years. Participants include Marisa Fernández Armenteros (Buenapinta Media), María Luisa Gutiérrez (Bowfinger Internacional Pictures), Sara de la Fuente (Mammut Films) and Silvia Fuentes (Sétima).
Working with CIMA, Valladolid’s second Women Filmmakers’ Forum roundtable, New Perspectives on Consent and Sexual Violence in Fiction and Documentary, will contrast how sexual violence is presented onscreen when a woman filmmaker tells the story. Participants include directors Iciar Bollaín (“I Am Nevenka”), Almudena Carracedo (“You Are Not Alone”) and María Herrera (“A Midsummer Night’s Tale”) and Spain’s first certified intimacy coordinator and actor Tábata Cerezo (“The Mallorca Files”).
La Incubadora – ECAM
Valladolid will promote the work of up-and-coming filmmakers by hosting a series of meetings for students involved in ECAM’s La Incubadora program. Participating filmmakers and producers will also have access to the MERCI program, which will introduce them to potential distributors for their projects.
La Incubadora is a year-round program run by ECAM to provide emerging cinematic talent – directors, writers, producers – in-person access to industry veterans to receive specialized advice, mentoring and the resources necessary to develop their projects.
Former Incubadora projects include Jaione Camborda’s San Sebastian Golden Seashell winner, “The Rye Horn,” and Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren’s Berlin standout, “20,000 Species of Bees,” among others.
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