02/12/2020 - For the entirety of this month, 17 films from the most recent edition of Atlàntida – which originally unspooled in Spain – can also be seen in Portugal, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania

The Atlàntida Film Fest (see the news), Europe’s biggest online film festival, organised by the Spanish platform and distributor Filmin, is expanding its international edition and is unspooling in Serbia, Greece, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and Portugal throughout December. After racking up ten years’ experience and enjoying the exponential growth of both its physical edition on Majorca and its online one (with more than 550,000 viewers at the most recent iteration), the gathering is making the leap to new territories thanks to the involvement of the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme. Therefore, it will be available on the Cinesquare and Filmin Portugal platforms from 1-31 December. Subscribers will be able to access the Official Section – which includes eight standout titles from the most recent edition of the Atlàntida Film Fest – and the Catalan Focus, where nine of this year’s most successful Catalonian productions (which are as yet unreleased in those six countries) will get some much-needed international exposure.

And so, audiences will encounter titles such as the feature debut by late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, Last and First Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], in which Tilda Swinton (who appeared recently in The Human Voice by Pedro Almodóvar – see the news) narrates a story about the extinction of humankind. Incidentally, the film won the Critics’ Award at the latest Atlàntida Film Fest. Also standing out is Jesper W Nielsen’s Danish thriller The Exception [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which boasts a top-notch female cast toplined by Sidse Babett Knudsen. The French documentary Banksy Most Wanted [+see also:
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film profile] by Seamus Haley and Aurelia Rouvier investigates the myriad theories on the identity of the titular provocative and slippery street artist. In addition, the winner of the Best Film Award at the Dublin Film Festival, Supernova [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bartosz Kruhlik
film profile], the feature debut by Poland’s Bartosz Kruhlik, will also get an airing.

The Official Section is rounded off by Ulaa Salim’s feature Sons of Denmark [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elliott Crosset Hove
interview: Ulaa Salim
film profile], depicting far-right Danish youths; the big winner at the German Film Awards, I Was, I Am, I Will Be [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (a co-production with France), helmed by Ilker Çatak; Tench [+see also:
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interview: Patrice Toye
film profile] by Belgium’s Patrice Toye, a story about paedophilia told in a highly original fashion; and the documentary Fat Front [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Denmark/Norway/Sweden) by Louise Detlefsen and Louise Unmack Kjeldsen.

In league with the Ramon Llull Institute, the Atlàntida Film Fest is also proud to be exporting the aforementioned Catalan Focus, a hand-picked selection of movies that should lend visibility to the talent hailing from this region of Spain. Nine titles will thus reach international audiences: The Days to Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Marques-Marcet
film profile] by Carlos Marques-Marcet; the thriller La filla d’algú [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], directed by a group of students from ESCAC, and starring Aina Clotet; the acclaimed and award-winning feature debut by Belén Funes, A Thief’s Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Belén Funes
film profile], which won big at the Goya and Gaudí Awards, where 7 Reasons to Run Away (from Society) [+see also:
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film profile] by Esteve Soler, Gerard Quinto and David Torras scooped the Special Audience Award; the story of the murder of young Guillem Agulló, focusing heavily on his family, La mort de Guillem, also by Marqués-Marcet and premiered at the most recent Málaga Film Festival; and Ojos Negros [+see also:
film review
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interview: Marta Lallana, Ivet Castelo
film profile], the tender debut by duo Marta Lallana and Ivet Castelo, about a teenage girl’s coming of age in an empty corner of Spain.

The selection is topped off by three of the best Spanish short films of recent years: the Goya winners Watermelon Juice by Irene Moray, starring Elena Martín (Júlia ist [+see also:
film review
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interview: Elena Martín
film profile]) in the lead role, and The Last Virgin by Bárbara Farré; and, hailing from the Málaga Film Festival, If Then Else, directed by Carla Simón (Summer 1993 [+see also:
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interview: Carla Simón
film profile]).

(Translated from Spanish)