Alberto Rodríguez
When Tejero stormed the Spanish Congress building gun in hand, only three men stayed in their seats whilst the others ducked down to protect themselves: Adolfo Suárez, Santiago Carrillo and Gutiérrez Mellado. Through these three men who led the transition to democracy and the three ringleaders of the coup d’état —Tejero, Milans and Armada—, the series follows the chain of events and tensions that brought the country to the brink of returning to the former military regime.
Not in competition
Opening Film (In competition)
Alice Winocour
In the frenzy of Fashion Week, three women cross paths in Paris, grappling with the world's tragedies and the questions of their lives: Maxine, an American film director in her forties, discovers she has cancer; Ada, a young South Sudanese model, escapes a predetermined destiny to be thrust into a deceptive universe and French makeup artist Angèle, a small hand working in the shadows of the catwalks, dreams of escaping her life.
Arnaud Desplechin
Returning to France after a long exile, pianist Mathias Vogler reunites with his mentor, Elena, to prepare a concert. In a park, an encounter with a child who looks just like him will lead him to Claude, the woman he once loved.
Elena Molina, Isaki Lacuesta
A daughter sets out to find out the truth about the man who was her father, a legendary musician, who died when she was 8 years old. He is Antonio Flores, and she the also famous actress Alba Flores. Alba stopped singing when she lost Antonio and is now determined to recover her voice and her background, asking family members and friends for the first time.
Special Screenings - Not in competition
Agnieszka Holland
Czech Republic - Germany - Poland
127 min.
Award-winning director Agnieszka Holland is embarking on her most ambitious project to date, a biopic of the iconic 20th-century Czech writer Franz Kafka. Conceived as a kaleidoscopic mosaic, the film follows the imprint Kafka left on the world from his birth in 19th-century Prague to his death in post-WW1 Vienna. Franz will give the audience a brand new perspective on the life of the man behind the literary giant.
José Luis Guerin
In a peripheral neighbourhood, where the rural and urban worlds meet, the houses of the first migrants who arrived after the post-war period coexist with the new blocks of the dormitory city, where the latest wave of migration is concentrated. This humble corner is now an authentic global village. Good Valley Stories is a sum of constructs, of social, generational and identity, urban and ecological conflicts, but it is also a calm and humanistic look at today’s world.
Asier Altuna
The Basque Country, 1937. Driven from their home when war breaks out, Karmele and her family flee to France, where she is contacted by the Basque cultural embassy in exile, who use music and dance to combat the war. There she meets and falls in love with Txomin, a professional trumpet player. After living in Venezuela for a time, the couple come home with the hope of recovering everything that was taken from them.
Special Screenings - Not in competition
Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum 2019
Paco Plaza, Pablo Guerrero
In Fate, a shy young taxi driver and public office applicant, David (Ricardo Gómez) unexpectedly becomes the chauffeur of El Maestro (Óscar Jaenada) a former bullfighter who comes out of retirement to recover his lost reputation. El Maestro is on a losing streak and David and his taxi bring him luck, or at least that’s what he thinks…
Special Screenings - Not in competition
Milagros Mumenthaler
Switzerland - Argentina
104 min.
At the height of her career, Lina, a 34-year-old Argentine stylist, is driven by a sudden impulse after an award ceremony in Switzerland. Back in Buenos Aires, she says nothing, but something in her has shifted - quiet and invisible, it subtly unravels a past she thought she had left behind.
Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Los domingos / Sundays tells the story of Ainara, an idealistic and brilliant 17-year-old who has to decide what university degree to pursue — or at least that's what her family hopes she will do. However, the young woman says she feels increasingly closer to God and is considering embracing the life of a cloistered nun. The news takes the entire family by surprise, creating a chasm and a real test for everyone.
Alberto Rodríguez
Antonio and Estrella are siblings. Their father was a diver. They have spent their whole lives at sea. Antonio is known as The Tiger, an indomitable diver and the perfect buddy to have with you when you risk your life in only a few seconds, every day. Estrella helps her brother on the barge where they work. She keeps him grounded; out of the water, Antonio is a real mess. He has always lived in the moment, never thinking about the future, leaving him with barely a penny to his name. When Antonio has an accident, he is told that his diving days will soon be over. The future looks dark and complicated. However, this situation may just change when they find a stash of cocaine hidden in the hull of an oil tanker. Antonio sees no other option, but his sister Estrella has her doubts. As always.
Jose Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi
After breaking up with his partner, 76 year-old Vicente leads life the way he likes it in Maspalomas: he spends his days lying in the sun, partying, and looking for pleasure. An unexpected accident obliges him to return to San Sebastián and to the daughter, whom he abandoned years ago. Vicente will have to live in a retirement home where he finds himself driven back into the closet and to conceal a part of himself that he thought he had resolved. In this new environment, Vicente must ask himself if he has enough time left to make his peace with others… and with himself.
Yutaro Seki, Kentaro Hirase
Four people lead ordinary lives in different places, their paths never crossing. A mysterious man appears in each story, always as someone else. One moment, a cram school instructor; the next, a truck driver, a barber; his identity constantly shifting. Then, death strikes. A detective pursues the truth, closing in on a revelation...
Agustín Díaz Yanes
She Walks in Darkness draws inspiration from the biggest covert operation against ETA, which marked a turning point in the fight against terrorism in Spain. Based on the historical, political and social context of the 90s and the 2000s, the film tells the story of Amaia, a young Civil Guard who spends more than ten years with the terrorist group as an undercover agent, tasked with finding the hiding places used by the organisation in southern France.
Not in competition
Koldo Almandoz
Nerea Garcia is having a rough time of it; it’s four years since she was thrown out of the Basque Ertzaintza police force and she now leads a solitary life in her Bilbao home. The appearance of a woman’s corpse, murdered in some kind of ritual, prompts her former boss to ask her for help with the investigation. What Nerea hadn’t realised is that ghosts from the past and present would lead her down into the bowels of the city, where nothing and nobody is what it seems.
Special Screenings - Not in competition