For the In Focus section, the proposal will be a complete retrospective on the work of the Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón, which will include the premiere of Alcarràs, winner of the Golden Bear at the last Berlinale. In the New Voices section, dedicated to young directors whose work has been calling the attention of world cinema, the highlight goes to Chema García Ibarra, in a programme that integrates her debut feature film and all her short films.

Originally from a small village in Catalonia, Carla Simón is a member of an extended family that, quite openly, serves as inspiration for the work she has been developing as a writer and filmmaker. Based in London since 2011, she made her film debut with the short film Women, an experimental exercise shot in 16 mm in the forests of California. Before making her feature film debut, Carla directed three other films (Lipstick, 2013; Las pequeñas cosas, 2014; Lacuna, 2016), where she experimented with the universes of documentary and fiction and began to clearly affirm her aptitude (and predilection) for reflecting on the complexity of the human condition and family relationships. Then comes Summer 1993, his most personal film, in which he portrays what is, in many points, also his own story: the difficulties of a child orphan adjusting to a new family. In Alcarràs, his most recent film, follows a rural family forced to abandon their place of work and residence after a past verbal agreement is forgotten by the heirs who own the land. Winner of the Golden Bear at the last Berlinale, Alcarràs is a story about the feeling of belonging to a place, but also a sensitive exercise around the dramas caused by family disagreements, the anachronism of certain traditions and the nuclear value of the family in times of crisis. The film will have its premiere at Curtas, a few days before its commercial premiere, to take place in July. The retrospective that the festival is dedicating to the author will also include Correspondencia, a short film made with Dominga Sotomayor that was part of the official selection of the 28th Curtas.

Chema García Ibarra was born, lives and works in Elche, Spain. His prolific work in short films has been present in the competitions of festivals around the world, where he has been awarded around 200 prizes. Fascinated by the science fiction universe, it has been clear since his debut, El Ataque de los robots de Nebulosa - 5 (2008), that the Spaniard has a special ability to create scenarios of improbable humour, inhabited by characters whose apparently idyllic lives seem unaffected by the horror that unfolds around them. Full proof of this is Espiritu sagrado (2021), his first feature, where he follows the members of an association of ufologists who see their secret plan to change humanity threatened after the death of their leader, while, outside, the world searches for a missing girl. A film premiered at Locarno where the director masterfully uses irony to satirize a society that has become hostage to its beliefs, numbed in its inadequacies and alienated from its own problems. In this focus that Curtas dedicates to him, all his works will be screened, including those already mentioned and also Protopartículas (2009), Misterio (2013), Uranes (2013), La disco resplandece (2016) and Leyenda dorada (2018).

Curtas de Vila do Conde returns between July 9 and 17 and had already announced part of its programme for Cinema Revisited, will mark the birth centenaries of António Campos and Alain Resnais, will make a special programme about the work of François Reichenbach (developed in co-production with Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira) and will screen Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders - The Complete Novel.

More information about Curtas Vila do Conde's programme will be revealed in the coming months.