North American Premiere
Steeped in the warmth of summer and the sweetness of peaches, Alcarràs tells the tale of a family in Catalonia suddenly faced with eviction from the land they’ve farmed for generations. The Solé family lives by the rhythms of the harvest, following centuries-old traditions, as the threat of modernization encroaches ever closer. Immediate, joyous, and complex in its exploration of family dynamics, director Carla Simón’s naturalistic, immersive filmmaking tells a bittersweet tale of love and family in a last idyllic summer; scenes are bathed with golden sunshine and vibrate with life and exuberance. Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.
[Alcarràs] is an elegy for a way of life that has been losing its grip since before the latest generation of the Solé family was born, and it pays tribute to that tradition with a plaintive grace that reaffirms cinema’s unique ability to return the past to the present, and surrender the present to the past.”—David Ehrlich, IndieWire
Golden Bear for Best Film, Berlin 2022
Media Partner
Jordi Pujol Dolcet, Anna Otín, Xènia Roset, Albert Bosch, Ainet Jounou
Spain/Italy
2022
In Catalan with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Farruquito: a Flamenco Dynasty
Legendary flamenco dancer Farruquito struggles to reconcile his past with his family legacy. Revelling in the artistry of Romani music and dance, Farruquito: A Flamenco Dynasty explores family dynamics and the pursuit of greatness.
Linka Linka
Kangdrun's feature debut depicts a twentysomething filmmaker coming to grips with a shameful act she committed in childhood. Moving between past and present, with each main character played by two actors, this is a provocative and challenging work.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
La Gradiva
Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, Marine Atlan's feature debut follows a class of French high-school students on a trip to Naples. While learning about the ruins of Pompeii by day, a different kind of education takes place at night.
Image: © Films du poisson, Bibi Film TV, Arte France Cinema
Fugs Film!
Originating as a group of New York beatniks, The Fugs' taboo-embracing contempt for social norms made them one of the strangest bands of the 1960s. Fugs Film! is a raucous, irreverent celebration of rebellion, poetry, and counterculture legacy.
Whispers in May
Whispers in May follows Qihuo and her friends in China’s Liangshan Mountains as childhood gives way to womanhood. It blends close observation and scenes of the girls' search with animated fragments of Yi oral myth to create a hypnotic coming-of-age film.
Credits
Executive Producer
María Zamora, Giovanni Pompili
Producer
María Zamora, Stefan Schmitz, Tono Folguera, Sergi Moreno
Screenwriter
Carla Simón
Cinematography
Daniela Cajías
Editor
Ana Pfaff
Original Music
Andrea Koch
Art Director
Monica Bernuy
Director
Carla Simón
Carla Simón is a screenwriter and director raised in a small Catalan village. She studied audiovisual communication in Barcelona and in California, and was awarded a scholarship for a Master’s program at the London Film School. Summer 1993 (2017), her autobiographical debut, won the Best First Feature Award and the Generation Kplus Grand Prix at the Berlinale, along with three Goya awards, including Best New Director, and was selected to represent Spain at the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2018 at Cannes, Simón received the Kering Women in Motion Young Talent Award.
Filmography: Summer 1993 (2017)
