FICXixon 2024

I guess as you get older (OK, let's say mature, to sound nicer) traditions become more and more important. One more year, and one more edition of FICXixón is almost here, and as usual, I realise I have not published yet my post about the previous edition, so here it goes:

FICXixon 62 edition took place from November 15th to 23rd. This was a dry November month here, which makes me rather angry, I love rainy weather, I've always loved it, but now even more probably due my youth memories (and I guess my Galician heritage also plays its part). All in all I attended 6 films, which is my record since I returned to Xixón in 2018. This year I was not so busy at work, and had more time to check the programme and attend screenings. I watched 2 excellent films, a good film, an interesting documentary, and 2 films that were OK, but I would not watch again. From the micro-reviews below you can guess who is who.

• The Antique, Friday 15, 19:00, OCine. The best film I've watched in this edition. I was quite in doubt between this one and Bird, but the trailer of "The Antique" looked so good (additionally, a story set in Russia is more appealing to me now that one set in UK), and in the end I settled on this gorgeous Georgian film. An old flat in a historical building in central Saint Petersbourg, the snow covered streets, an old man approaching the end, a gorgeous Georgian woman, antiquities, social unrest. I think I've said enough
• Una Ballena, Saturday 16, 22:00, Teatro Jovellanos. Basque film mixing neo-noir and horror-fantasy. It had excellent reviews, but I'm not sure why it did not work for me. There was an "Encuentro con el público" after the screening, where the director and the main actress, the beautiful Ingrid, would discuss the film with the audience, some people expressed how (positively) shocked they were with the film, and honestly I felt a bit out of place.
• La prisionnere de Bordeaux, Tuesday 19, 21:30, Yelmo Ocimax. When FICXixón 2022 dedicated a retrospective to Patricia Mazuay I watched three of her films, and I loved 2 of them. And I loved even more the "Encuentros con el público" with her. She was so funny and expressive. So when I found out that they were programming her last film I could not miss it, furthermore when it stars the charming Isabelle Huppert, one of my favorite actresses. So I even took the bus to go to the Yelmo cinema located far away in the outskirts, something I'd never done before for a FIC film! I did not regret it, the film is the kind of bizarre, funny, melancholic product that you could expect from these 2 crazy women.
• When the Light Breaks, Wednesday 20, 22:00, Teatro Jovellanos. Excellent Icelandic drama. Grieving for a loved one is even worse when you are (and he was) young, and even worse when you have to hide how broken you are cause you had a secret relation. The light sequences at the start and the end of the film are mesmerizing.
• Que se sepa (Indarkeriaren pi(h)artzunak), Thursday 21, 22:00, Escuela de Comercio. Interesting and necessary Basque documentary about one more of the many episodes of sorrow and pain brought up by the long and bloody conflict in the Basque Country. This time ETA and the Spanish Government join forces to kill an innocent man and destroy his family.
• Fréwaka, Saturday 22, 19:15, OCine. It was preceded by a Colombian short, "La noche del Minotauro". Irish horror film, it was entertaining I think, but had little effect on me, so little that 1 year after I hardly remember anything about it.