##La Cabina – Festival Internacional de Mediometrajes de València, which will hold its 12th edition from the 21st to 29th November 2019 in Valencia, has selected 15 films to compete in the Official Selection. After receiving more than 500 films from all over the world, ‘La Cabina’ consolidates its position as the festival of international reference in the medium length format. The Official Section will be made up of 30 to 60 minute fiction films from countries such as France, China, Sweden, Germany, the United States, Argentina, Algeria, Canada, Italy and Greece.

France continues to be the country with the highest number of productions competing in La Cabina: a total of 5, and another in co-production with Argentina and Greece. China (1), Sweden (1), Germany (2), the United States (1), Argentina (1), Algeria (1), Canada (1) and Italy (1) have been added to the list of countries that sign the production of Official Section films.

The official competition screenings, hosted by La Filmoteca de València, will start on Friday 22nd of November and, for 6 days; spectators will be able to see the best cinema of between 30 and 60 minutes. There will be three daily sessions in which one film per session will be shown in its original version, subtitled and with presentations and discussions by its directors or members of the team. The cost of each of screening is 1.50 euros with the possibility of buying a voucher of 5 sessions for 5 euros.

In this year’s Official Section, viewers can recognize recent faces in European auteur cinema, such as Swedish actress Malin Buska, who starred in 2015 in Mika Kaurismaki’s biopic of Sweden’s Queen Christina, “The Girl King”; who was Hal Hartley’s fetish actress, Elina Löwensohn; Lola Crétón, who worked with Mia Hansen-Løve and Catherine Breillat; and Nathalie Richard, whose credits include films directed by François Ozon and Michael Haneke.

Among the titles selected is the tribute to the pulp culture of the director of the cult film “Les garçons sauvages”, Bertrand Mandico, “Ultra Pulpe”, presented at the Critics’ Week of the last Cannes Film Festival.

In addition, the director of “Electric Swan”, Konstantina Kotzamani, repeats in the festival this year, since she previously participated in the IX edition of La Cabina with her medium-length film “Limbo”.

The members of the jury, made up of professionals from the world of cinema and culture, will decide on the prizes for the different categories: Best Medium-length Film, Direction, Screenplay, Main Performance, Supporting Performance, Art Direction, Production Design, Photography and Music.

La Cabina – Festival Internacional de Mediometrajes de València is co-organized by the Aula de Cine del Vicerrectorado de Cultura y Deporte de la Universitat de València, the Institut Valencià de Cultura, Conselleria de Cultura a través de la Direcció General de Cultura i Patrimoni, Regidoria d’Acció Cultural de l’Ajuntament de València y Diputació de València, and also has the official sponsorship of Cerveza Turia and Caixa Popular.

OFFICIAL SECTION SYNOPSIS:

ULTRA PULPE (Bertrand Mandico. France) A resort on the beach that is abandoned. The shooting of a fantasy film that is about to end, in an era of endings. Two women, both part of the shooting team, an actress and another director, Apocalypse and Joy are about to finish their love affair. In order to remain with Apocalypse for the duration of one last embrace, Alegría, the eldest of the two, recites a tale of five sunsets. Five stories of women who do not want to grow old, five adventures of science fiction, vulgarity, necrophilia and poetry. Five sequences that refer to the creation of a fantasy film about the end of an era.

THE BOY IN THE BUSH (Vanessa Ly. United States) A man and a woman lead at night to an unknown destination. He is a judge, she is an actress. She looks for the memories he wanted to bury of a woman who has been accused of killing her own baby and he reveals them. While the night is fraying, she slowly enters the character of this woman, until they reach their destination.

THAT MORNING (Wong Wai Nap. Hong Kong) In the context of Hong Kong, Eya is a shy teenager who begins to write to escape alienation, bullying and loneliness. On a day of school activities, Eya remains silent during an interview but she is not the only one who cannot stand her way of life. Everything changes that morning.

SHUT UP HATERS (Jon Blåhed. Sweden) The death of a family member brings aspiring musician Maya back to her home in northern Sweden. A place where the sun shines at midnight, with Finland on the other side of the river and where people speak their own language. Maya’s sister Sofia and her boyfriend Johan are going on a trip along the border between Sweden and Finland after the funeral, and Maya decides to join. It becomes a journey in which her identity and future are put to the test.

NOTRE DAME DE LA ZAD (Xavier Delagnes. France) In a small church, a young woman, Camille, comes to look for the young Father Gabriel, a priest: he has seen the Virgin Mary. But where? Very close, in the heart of the ZAD, the place where activists gather against the construction of a highway.

RED HANDS (MANI ROSSE) (Francesco Filippi. Italy) Ernesto (12) is a lonely, clever and overprotected boy. One day he discovers some wonderful red wall paintings made by Luna (14), a mysterious girl who has the power to produce a very vivid red colour with her own hands. But behind her power lies a painful and dangerous situation. Ernesto will have to muster all his courage to save the life of this strange girl with whom he has fallen in love.

LIGHT INSIDE (Dennis Stormer. Germany) What kind of girl breaks into your apartment and stays to live with you ever since? Why does she suddenly leave again? He told you once that he has never been afraid. He wanders from place to place because he looks for fear and emotions. You never know when he tells the truth. But you are afraid that I will die on this journey to nothingness. Moa is candid. Moa is free. Moa does not judge. Moa is helpless. Moa has no destiny. But when you look into her eyes you know nothing will happen to her. She will never find the danger she seeks. Moa is not afraid. She’s probably just broken into another house, into another strange car. You hate her and you love her. Moa has arrived in the loneliness of wandering. It’s not going to change.

THE DARKNESS (Belén Blanco. Argentina) It is the film of a mother who doesn’t want to live with her son, of a father who doesn’t see his son and leaves the mother alone. A family structure not so rare, quite common. However, this story is almost mute and takes place only between the protagonist and the spectator. Maybe that’s why she takes the time to tell it. Because more than a plot are facts, it is the capture of images that open up to questions. What is a mother? What is a father? What is a son? We no longer know….

JOURNEY THROUGH A BODY (Camille Degeye. France) Thomas, a Swiss-German musician, cannot leave the house because his foot is broken. He wanders around his small Parisian flat, his leg plastered, composing a new theme. At dawn an unexpected visit appears, a woman knocks on his door.

FEU SOLEIL (Aliha Thalien. France) It’s summer at La Grande Motte, she just finished her last high school exam. Vacations promise to be predictable and boring. Jade wants to make love with Lucas.

ELLE NOUS REGARDE (Lyna Zerrouki. Algeria) Ryan is a young boxer from a Parisian ghetto. When his mother dies, he has to go to Algeria for the funeral to follow the traditions. When he arrives at the airport in Algeria, he is welcomed by his uncle Youcef, whom he had not seen since childhood. Ryan joins a dysfunctional family, with an uncle willing to do anything to steal his inheritance: a piece of land that was his mother’s garden.

ÉLÉONORE (Martin Rodolphe Villeneuve. Canada)

A grandfather,

A field in spring,

An old house,

A scar that’s starting to heal.

ELECTRIC SWAN (Konstantina Kotzamani. Argentina, Greece, France) Buildings shouldn’t move. But on Avenida Libertador 2050, a building moves and the roof shakes, causing a strange nausea that devours its residents. Those who live upstairs believe they will fall – those who live downstairs believe they will drown.

CARWASH (BRAQUER POITIERS) (Claude Schmitz. France) Francis and Thomas, bandits with little desire to work, kidnap Wilfrid, the owner of a car wash who earns a handful of euros a day. Trapped by Stockholm syndrome in his own way, Wilfrid begins to feel comfortable in that situation, and even theorizes about it, while the bandits begin to doubt their own motivations when their girlfriends come to visit from the south.

A HARD WORKING MAN (Alexander Schwarz. Germany) As a result of his compulsive gambling, Viktor’s restaurant can be repossessed. When rich Noah asks for the hand of his daughter Katja, a kidnapping seems to be the best plan to get a large amount of money. Viktor convinces Lena and Vlad, his two kitchen assistants, to help him with his plan. His wife, Nadja, thinks Viktor’s strange behaviour means he is being unfaithful and, determined to catch him in the act, runs into two armed people, a chained man and her husband. Nervousness makes the situation difficult.