The Cinema Vêndome hosts the Festival de Cans, a straightforward view of the Galician realityOn Thursday 16 October at 19.00pm, the Galician Festival de Cans is showcased in Brussels, at the Vêndome cinema. The short films on display will provide an excellent glimpse of the quality and diversity of the current Galician film industry: From the most innovative fantasy film to comedy, musical, drama and animated movies, the selection makes for the most indefinable and daring colletion of the current Galician cinema.
The original Festival de Cans, which takes place in Galicia every year, does not only show movies but also provides an uncomplex view of the Galician reality.
This year the festival is showcased in Brussels for the first time. But back in Galicia every May, just as the more famous Cannes Film Festival congretages in the Cote d´Azur with the more glamourous set of Worldwide cinema, the best Galician short movies are screened in barns of the Galician hamlet of Cans (450 inhabitants).
The Festival de Cans takes over the whole village: the meadow where celebrations take place along with the parish church are the meeting point where concerts and the awards ceremony happen. The showrooms where the shorts are projected are spread around the village: barns and basements transform to become cinema theatres. Limousines are absent in Cans but the Chimpibuses, small tractors used to carry grass, corn and compost become the official transport of guests and the public driven by local folk.
This five-year old Festival is organized by the Cultural Association Arela, created and produced by young people from O Porriño and Mos, all coordinated by the scriptwriter Alfonso Pato.
The name and place of the Festival are not mere coincidences as the goal of the festival is to raise the profile of the Galician audiovisual output celebrating a festival that reinterprets the antics of a film festival but in a very Galician way. It can be said, that in this case, the setting matters as much as the content. That´s why a making-off of the original festival will be also showcased in Brussels.
I cooperation with Arela, the Couto Mixto Bruxelas ASBL, made up by Galician expats in Brussels, aims at bringing this festival closer to Europe, as the Association´s main goal is to showcase the Galician cultural reality abroad.
The Brussels event will showcase the awarded Films and videos of the 2008 edition:
- ´Agroglamour´, documentary about the festival. 20 min. aprox.
- ´Sálvame´, bye Javier Veiga. Public´s Choice Award and Jury Award in Fiction. 20 min aprox.
-´ 1977´, by Peque Varela. Jury Award in Animation. 8 min aprox.
- ´A revolta dos mouses´, by David Gen. Public´s Choice Award in Animation. 22 min aprox.
- Videoclips: 'Calamar' by The Homens' e 'España a las ocho' de Elodio y los seres queridos. Total: 10 min. aprox.
- ´Máis Cans que nunca´, movie machine about the festival by Luis Otero. 8 min aprox.
The Brussels event will last about two hours. All Films are subtitled in English.
[The “Couto Mixto” was an small autonomous and free area between Spain and Portugal from the Middle Ages to the later Nineteenth century}.
[Galicia is one of the three historical nationalities within the Spanish State, and is to the Northwest of the Iberian peninsula just above Portugal, with whom it shares strong historical and linguistic links. It has its own Autonomous Government and the Galician language is the most spoken and is co-official alongside Spanish. Galicia is inhabited by 3 million people, and has the land area of Belgium. 4.000 Galicians live in Brussels and 9 million are scattered around the globe]
Cinema Vendome Chausee de Wavre 18 Waversteenweg 1050 Bruxelles FREE
