“Our festival is the European festival with the largest Ibero-American presence in general and Argentine in particular. Argentine cinema has been our cinematic reference in recent years for names, films, talent, ability and dynamism when it comes to production.Malaga Film Festival Director says: Juan Antonio Vejarrecently arrived again in Buenos Aires, at the head of an important Spanish delegation that will participate this weekend in the 2025 edition of MASS, a meeting with the best modern Spanish productions scheduled to take place at the Malaga and San Sebastian festivals. Jobs, with free entry, They will continue through Sunday in the Lugones Room at the San Martin Theater.
In conversation with NationVijar coincided with his colleague from San Sebastian, José Luis Ribordinos, who was also present for part of the talk, Realizing that Spanish cinema at this time, in terms of the quantity and quality of production, is experiencing an exceptional moment. “Festivals are real platforms in this sense. I think that we and San Sebastián had an intelligent eye when selecting those films that, from the author’s concept, might be of interest to the audience. From our drive and the awards, an initial critical mass has been created that, in addition to word of mouth, makes our films grow in terms of revenues and in audiences as well.”
The delegation led by Vijar and Ribordinos is in Argentina again Also to join next week for the 2025 edition of Ventana Sur, The most important film market in Latin America (created a decade ago jointly by Incaa and the Cannes Film Festival). The two share a big question that remains unanswered: why is Latin American cinema still unpopular (outside of festivals) among Spanish audiences and the same thing happens here (with exceptions such as Pedro Almodóvar) with the first commercial screenings of the latest cinema made in Spain.
The exception, as everyone on the peninsula realizes, is It is a subgenre known by the Spaniards themselves as “Darien films”. Any release starring the Argentine actor in Spain is guaranteed a floor of €1 million at the cinema box office. outside movie theaters, Eternal It confirmed the same direction of flow. “All of Spain saw it,” our visitors admit.
“We wanted Argentine cinema to always have an important presence in Malaga through films and recognitions – adds Vejar -. They passed the festival Graciela Borges, Hector Oliveira, Mercedes Moran, Guillermo Francella, Cecilia Roth, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Oscar Martinez And there will be many. What concerns us most is that at this time Argentine cinema is going through a more complicated situation The films that have recently arrived to us were produced two years ago, and if a major reconstruction is not addressed, it is likely that we will have a shortage of Argentine cinema at upcoming festivals or that these films will arrive with some loss of identity because they will be co-productions with foreign platforms or countries.
Vejar highlighted the fundamental need to obtain public sector support: “Otherwise the possibility of implementing an industry cannot be understood. The Spanish Film Institute has created a series of coherent policies regarding aid, registration and incentives for the presence of women. There is also a specific line of support for auteur cinema.”
Could something like this be repeated in Argentina?
– The film institute of any country, in this case Argentina, should build channels to promote production through dialogue with the entire sector. Staying only with private initiatives or with co-productions or platforms that standardize content is dangerous. Your cultural identity may be somewhat diminished and this may also cause production to suffer in the coming years.
-How is this panorama reversed?
-I’m not saying that about public assistance. The industry itself says so. You have to listen to those who are part of the sector you are targeting. We must not only evaluate things from a numerical point of view, but understand that culture is never an expense, but an investment, and in this sense it must be taken care of. Culture and cinema convey intangible elements that are very important for a country to grow, to analyze its own reality, to think, to reflect, and from that knowledge of its identity to shape its future.
-You recently reached an agreement with Incaa.
– We have developed a very valuable four-year project, Hack Mafiz, targeting a new type of digital creators, aged 18-35, who create new forms of content on platforms and media like Spotify, YouTube and Instagram. Based on an agreement with the Mar del Plata Festival, we proposed a series of creative challenges to these new composers and from there emerge four finalists who will be in Malaga next March to coexist with the rest of the creatives we have been selecting elsewhere. Shortly before Mar del Plata, we made a similar call at the University of Buenos Aires with very interesting differential data.
-any?
-Usually when we want to address people who know or want to make a living from audio-visual media, we turn to the specialized colleges: communication sciences, image design. But at UBA they had the idea of opening the call to all faculties and we met architects, psychologists and other disciplines who showed very rich insights into these new forms of expression through cinema.
-Where do these new creative manifestations go?
We see that young people tend to create content in the form of very short vertical videos. We notice that these children are acquiring wonderful skills in using advanced technologies From here a different story emerges. During the pandemic, a global online festival was held and it was found that the average attention span time for an online film was eight minutes.
-And what will happen to the more traditional forms? Thierry Frémaux, artistic director of Cannes, stopped here a few days ago to highlight the current strength of auteur cinema.
-We believe in the right balance of things. It is wrong to raise flags and wage war against each other. The future will not be in favor of one-minute vertical videos, nor will it remain anchored in traditional cinema. I hope the many kids who take part in the hack will be fodder for a cinema that won’t be the same as we’ve seen, but won’t be radically different either.
– What is the basis for believing in the possibility of achieving this balance?
-And there is a common denominator for all. Cinema targets people who need it Think, feel and meditate as part of your vital being. We have an audience that has been consuming films in theaters all their lives and is seeking to maintain that status. And young people who, because of the urgency of life today, in a careless world, all they want is to see little discs of content on a smartphone.
-Is a meeting between these masses possible?
-We are also exhibitors. We have a four-screen complex in Malaga where we show films in their original version with subtitles. Since we also love classic cinema, we created a small film library. The response was very interesting. Do you know which audience represents the majority in those posts? The little ones.
-How do you explain that?
– The same digital content creators discover, when they walk into those rooms, that 60 or 70 years ago there was someone who actually did everything they think they’re discovering. I hope that down the road these digital content creators will discover that the classics are always the latest.
All performances will take place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of the MASS Festival in the Lugones Room of the San Martín Theater and admission will be free. Tickets can be obtained from the theater’s box office (Av. Corrientes 1530) two hours before the start of each performance. At the end of each screening, there will be a dialogue between the audience and some of those responsible for each film, especially those from Spain.
The program will open on Saturday 29th at 6pm. with deafdirected by Eva Libertad (winner of the main prize at the Malaga Festival 2025) in the presence of its director and producer Miriam Porte, and will culminate at 9 p.m. with dinnerwritten by Manuel Gomez Pereira, who will be present with one of the film’s heroes, the actor Acer Etxiandia.
It will be shown on Sunday, the 30th of this month, at six in the evening CarmeliteWritten by Asir Altouna, at nine o’clock in the evening. Portuguese villaWritten by Avelina Pratt. Both managers will be present at special events to speak to spectators.