L'Alternativa 2021

In the course of the week, viewers will get to enjoy the best international independent cinema at a don’t-miss event on the Barcelona film scene. The main venue is once again the CCCB, that will host the festival from 15 to 24 November, along with the Filmoteca de Catalunya, Zumzeig cinema, Maldà cinema, the ECIB and Filmin. The presential sessions will be held from 15 to 28 November, and the programme will continue online until 5 December at Filmin.

Once again, L’Alternativa is committed to a programme with a character and voice of its own, celebrating the rebirth of contemporary independent film after the pandemic.

L’Alternativa’s competition selection once again discovers the best international independent film, with 8 full-length films and 13 shorts, gems recognised by the world’s leading auteur film festivals. The National competition section includes 18 films—features and shorts representing "the other Spanish cinema”—that showcase the best on the scene.

The curtain-raiser is Magaluf Ghost Town, by Miguel Ángel Blanca. The film is a Mallorca-style Twin Peaks that explores the contradictions of a town given over to tourism. We’ll also be celebrating the opening with Mapping Sols, by Toni Mira and Esteban Crucci, with live dance in the Pati de les Dones courtyard at the CCCB. The closing film is Edna, by Eryck Rocha.

In collaboration with the Filmoteca de Catalunya film theatre and the ECIB, this year we’re launching Satellites, a section in which we invite three national filmmakers with outstanding careers and orbits overlapping with L’Alternativa to programme and give seminars and masterclasses: Oskar Alegria, Manuel Muñoz Rivas and Carla Simón.

The Special screenings at L’Alternativa will feature a preview of films by Neus Ballús (Sis dies corrents) and Clara Roquet (Libertad), with jewels of contemporary cinema such as Canto Cósmico - Niño de Elche and City Hall by Frederick Wiseman. Together with the CCCB’s Debates Department and World Press Photo, we’ll also be celebrating 50 years of Médecins Sans Frontières, with the screening and debate Stop Filming Us.

The now-classic daily programme in the Hall of the CCCB includes Cinema EXPandit (filmic performances), Focus (3 shorts made by young people formerly in care), Invites (Festival dei Poppoli, Rome), Selects (shorts from the 2020-2021 season) and the Hall Microshorts call. Like every year, L’Alternativa also offers a family programme that includes screenings for the kids and a Stop-motion workshop facilitated by Kati Egely, in collaboration with El Meu Primer Festival.

And, like every year, the programme of L’Alternativa 2021 is completed with activities for audiovisual students and professional activities aimed at the audiovisual sector, which include the 12^th Professionals and Cinema To Come Conference.

 

See the full programme.