Isaki Lacuesta, Spanish candidate for the Oscars, luxury godfather at the XI La Mirada Tabú Festival

Those things that are not talked about will once again be the protagonists with the La Mirada Tabú International Film Festival from 5 to 14 December in Zaragoza. Screenings, discussions, literary presentations, exhibitions and a packed cultural agenda make up the programme for the eleventh edition of a “unique festival” , as recognised by the Councillor for Culture of the Zaragoza City Council, Sara Fernández, at the presentation on Wednesday. An edition that is full of milestones, starting with the inauguration and ending with a luxury godfather: Isaki Lacuesta.

The filmmaker and his “Second Prize” (a “non” film about the group Los Planetas) were selected by the Film Academy to represent Spain at the Oscars. For the moment, we will have to wait until the end of the year to find out if they are still in the running for one of the statuettes in the category of Best International Film. Whatever the case, the filmmaker will be in Zaragoza and the entire afternoon of Friday 13 December will be dedicated to him at the Filmoteca. At 6:00 pm, some selected short films from his filmography will be screened and at 8:00 pm, the film “Second Prize” will be screened.

The filmmaker will also be present at the closing ceremony (14 December at the CaixaForum) with his band Walking Disaster Area. “Isaki Lacuesta is a great director with a long national and international career, with a very particular cinematographic style. In addition to the film “Second Prize”, which has been widely screened in Zaragoza, he also has a career in short films,” acknowledged the director of the festival, Vicky Calavia.

Another of the festival’s major highlights will be the opening of the 11th edition on December 5th, when the president of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, will open it. That same day, the film “La memoria del cine: una película sobre Fernando Méndez-Leite” will be screened, and its producer, Félix Tussel, will also be in Zaragoza.

MORE THAN 4000 WORKS RECEIVED

The La Mirada Tabú Festival continues to grow and in this edition 4,002 works were received, from 110 countries. The presence of Iranian and Ibero-American cinema is noteworthy, as Calavia acknowledged. The number of selected works will be announced soon and it will be those shorts from the Official Section that will be screened from 10 to 12 December at the Filmoteca with free admission. On 14 December the list of winners will be revealed and the works that take home the First and Second Prize, as well as the Special Jury Prize, the Tabú Social Prize and the Tabú Gender Prize. This year, as a novelty, the Tabú USJ Training Prize has been created.

Each year, the festival pays tribute to a filmmaker who has given his point of view on the concept of taboo. In this case, the chosen one is Ventura Pons, whose film “Amic/Amat” will be shown on Thursday 12 December, accompanied by a talk by Santiago Fouz Hernández, Professor of Iberian Studies and Cinematography at the University of Durham (United Kingdom).

As a prelude to the festival, on December 4th at 6:00 pm the documentary “La primera mirada” will be screened, about the first film school in Spain, and its author Luis E. Parés, Director of the Cineteca de Madrid, will be present. That same day, at 8:00 pm, the book “En torno a ‘Paris, Texas’ de Wim Wenders” will be presented.

Documentaries will have a place in the programme , with ‘Marisol llámame Pepa’ by Blanca Torres, “Buñuel in Hollywood” by Félix Cábez and ‘Terapia de parejas’ by Gaizka Urresti, which will be presented by their directors.

In addition to screenings, La Mirada Tabú will host book presentations, talks, workshops, concerts and exhibitions. The main venue of the festival will be, as usual, the Filmoteca de Zaragoza, along with other venues such as CaixaForum (which will host the closing ceremony), as well as the Joaquín Roncal Centre, the recently opened Galería Olga Julián, the La Fontanería studio and the Las Armas Music Centre, which on 15 December will host the concert “Lo prohibido” by Walking Disaster Area.