Snowflake’s movie & Barcelona

The film Snowflake (Floquet de Neu) was formally presented at Barcelona Zoo, the event being attended by the actors Elsa Pataky, Clàudia Abate and Joan Sullà. The presentation of Snowflake signals the start to the 120th anniversary celebrations the Zoo will be giving in the coming year.

The film combines 3D animation and real images and a dream-come-true once had. The film is expected to be released in as many as 30 countries around the world.

Elsa Pataky plays the Witch of the North in the film. The Witch is the only one who can change the colour of the hair of a Snowflake who feels different and rejected by his companions for being an albino gorilla. That is why Snowflake has no qualms about escaping from the Zoo to go and find her.

The film not only shows Barcelona Zoo but also the city’s other places, such as Tibidabo, Parc Güell, Passeig de Gràcia and the old quarter of Sarrià.

“This film raises the Barcelona brand“, announced the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, who had the privilege of seeing the film.

The film brings Snowflake back to life at cinemas this coming 23 December.

Barcelona, will host the next CineEurope Convention

The international gathering of cinema exhibitors and distributors, CineEurope (one of the world’s four big film fairs), will be held in Barcelona in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

This has been agreed by the Catalan Ministry of Culture, the Barcelona Institute of Culture, the Barcelona Centre for International Conventions, the Prometeus Global Media company and the International Union of Cinemas.

The decision will make Barcelona a benchmark in the cinema industry. The first convention will be held at the Barcelona Centre for International Conventions from 18 to 21 June, 2012.

CineEurope is the official convention of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) and had been held in Amsterdam for the last 14 years.

Sitges 2011: International Fantasy Film Festival

A grand total of 270 films make up the festival, which this year is aiming to boost its section structure, which has helped to enable every type of audience to find their own space. Spaces that are opening to family audiences this year with the Sitges Family seal.

One of its most popular side-activities, The Jack Daniel’s SITGES Zombie Walk 2011 will be held on October 14th, beginning at 20:30h at the Miramar Building. Following the Zombie Walk there will be a free night party on the beach.

SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is the number one fantasy film festival in the world and represents, at the same time, the cultural expression with the most media impact in Catalonia. With a solid experience, the Sitges Festival is a stimulating universe of encounters, exhibitions, presentations and screenings of fantasy films from all over the world.

Born in 1968 as the 1st International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, today the Festival is an essential rendezvous for movie lovers and audiences eager to come into contact with new tendencies and technologies applied to film and the audiovisual world.

44th International Fantastic Film Sitges Festival of Catalonia

In a not-too-distant future humans are living side by side with mechanical creatures. A cyber engineer who is given the task of creating a robot child returns to his native city to be reunited with his family. He finds their relationships have changed beyond all recognition.

This is the premise for EVA, the opening film of the International Festival of Fantastic Cinema of Catalonia – Sitges 2011, which will take place between 6 and 16 October. This is Kiko Maíllo‘s first incursion into feature films and a new opera prima project for the Catalan film school ESCAC.

It is the first film in Catalan to open the festival and the cast includes Daniel Brühl, Marta Etura, Alberto Amman, Lluís Homar and Claudia Vega.

If EVA deals with the relationship between humans and machines this is no coincidence, since this year’s festival is inspired by artificial intelligence and intends to pay tribute to the Steven Spielberg film of the same title, ten years old this year.

This year also sees a reaffirmation of the festival’s commitment to home-made cinema. Another good example will come with the screening of Mientras duermes, the latest film by Jaume Balagueró, who will receive the Time Machine Award.

Other films from the Catalan or Spanish contingent are Emergo, directed by Carles Torrents and produced by Rodrigo Cortés, and the Spanish-Cuban coproduction Juan de los Muertos, an ironic take on Cuban reality and a highlight of Zombie Walk day, which is back for another year.

International films include The Yellow Sea, by Korean director Na Hong-jin, Grave Encounters, directed by The Vicious Brothers, Burke and Hare, by John Landis and Les contes de la nuit, an animated film in 3D by Michel Ocelot.

In fact 3D will again play a big part in the festival, with a presence in various sections, like “Midnight X-Treme“, with Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy.

:: Sitges Festival website ::

Desbordamiento de Val de Omar exhibition at La Virreina

The moving picture as an educational tool. Far removed from big screen superproductions devoid of content, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge is rethinking cinema through the lens of popular education in six projects that are set to be exhibited between July and October.

These four “in-house” productions include one organised in conjunction with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and a project on the Cinématheque de Tànger. Using photography and experimental cinema they look at various types of culture that make up civil society.

The Pedagogical Missions of the Republic, which the photographs of José Val del Omar record in the exhibition Desbordamiento de Val de Omar (Val de Omar Overflow) are shown as the first initiative to favour cultural exchange during the time of the Second Republic.

La Virreina is showing one of his main film creations, Tríptic Elemental d’Espanya (Elemental Triptych of Spain), three shorts that merge the reality of Granada, Castile and Galicia with the artist’s poetic imagery.

Works like this, which are more hypnotic than narrative, reflect the technical evolution of this unknown artist, who went from recording missions to experimenting with new photographic and cinematographic equipment.

Palau de la Virreina -> La Rambla 99
www.virreina.bcn.cat

Barcelona Sports Film Festival

The Barcelona Sports Film Festival, the only sports-themed cinema and TV festival in Spain, is set to take place in Barcelona between 17 and 21 May. Any audiovisual production with a sports theme can compete, whether it is an animated film, documentary, report, fiction film, promotional or advertising video.

Films will be screened at six different venues:

• Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch
• Centre Excursionista de Catalunya
• Sala d’Àmbit Cultural El Corte Inglés
• Ateneu Barcelonès
• CaixaFòrum
• Filmoteca de Catalunya

Apart from the film sessions the festival includes a whole series of parallel activities that aim to illustrate that sport is a sphere of activity capable of entering into a symbiotic relationship with art, philosophy and innovation.

More inf@: BCN Sports Film Festival

Mecal: International Short Film Festival of Barcelona

This year Mecal, the short film festival that originated 13 years ago, has as many as eight venues and it is as determined as ever to show the versatility and creativity to be found in short films.

The boom in shorts, partly explained by the quality of some of the more affordable digital devices around, is also reflected in the quantity of works received by the festival, nearly 3,500 this year. The final selection is split into three competition sections, with films from over 30 countries, and an even more eclectic fringe programme that combines cult shorts with angrier contemporary ones, as at previous festivals.

Discovering the audiovisual panorama of the Czech Republic, this year’s guest country, is one of the attractions this time round. The shorts that are going to be screened range from the best of the recent batch to film school productions.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhipln

Mecal 2011
XIII International Short Fim Festival of Barcelona
April, 8th – 17th
http://eng.mecalbcn.org/

Zoomvi, Festival of VideoClips Artists

The Festival de Realitzadors de Videoclips de Catalunya, Zoomvi (Festival of Video Clips Artists), lands in Barcelona at the CCCB on 1 and 2 April to show the best productions created by audiovisual and music fans.

The festival is held simultaneously in Barcelona, Reus and Olot. The finalists in the 2010 competition will be screened, along with the documentary Bankrobber.doc , various video clip projects will be presented and there will also be a battle of video clips. Plus there will be concerts, with Le Petit Ramon and Myriads, for example, where video clip projections will be mixed with the live music.

Programme

- Screenings, Battle of the Video Clips, New Formats, Bankrobber.doc, Luís Cervero

- La Ciudad Sumergida (Dorian), I Love Ü (Murfila), Kenneth Russo, Atleta, Le petit Ramon/El Chico

A unique opportunity, then, for fans and producers to exchange practices and experiences.

6th Hong Kong Cinema Week in Barcelona

Ann Hui, representing the new wave of “made in Hong Kong” films, and the indefatigable Johnny To and Herman Yau, are just some of the names you will be hearing about in the 6th Week of Hong Kong Cinema.

With the collaboration of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels, Casa Asia and the Filmoteca are once again presenting this cycle, which has been growing in fans and followers of films from China.

And that is because the Hong Kong film industry is the second busiest in the world, after Hollywood, and ahead of Bollywood.

The cycle opens with Brian Tse‘s cartoon McDull Kungfu Ding Ding Dong on Friday evening, 25 February.

From then until 6 March, will be screened Night and Fog in Tin Shui Wai, by Ann Hui, Crime Story, by Kirk Wong, with Jackie Chan, and The Storm Warriors, from the brothers Oxide and Danny Pang, Sitges regulars.

Click over the image to visit the Casa Asia website.

11-11-11 Teaser, new horror film shot at Hotel Granvia of Barcelona

A few days ago we told you that horror film director Darren Lynn Bousman was shooting his most recent film at Hotel Granvia in Barcelona. Best known for the acclaimed 3 Saw sequels (II, III & IV), he has also directed: Repo! The Genetic Opera and, most recently, the remake of Troma, The Mother’s Day (with Rebecca de Mornay) that will debut next April 1, 2011.

On rare occasions, the premiere of a film can match its title, it this a coincidence?, maybe not … But can this movie be considered a psychological thriller, a biblical apocalypse or a human disaster story? The film is about the “Phenomenon 11:11”.Apparently, there are people who claim that the numbers have appeared to them repeatedly throughout their life, which means  there are angels or guardian spirits who are trying to communicate with them. Rounding out the issue, these people suggest that 11 is a number that has been associated with important historical events.

And nothing better than including Hotel Granvia in this movie, since it has also served as a spectacular backdrop for world renowned series and films shot in Barcelona.

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