PÖFF29 Kicks Off with They Will Be Dust and a Celebration of Catalan Cinema

PÖFF29 opens with They Will Be Dust — a bold, moving tragicomic musical by acclaimed Catalan director Carlos Marqués-Marcet, starring Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro in a deeply human story of love, loss, and reconciliation.

The opening ceremony on 7 November at Alexela Concert Hall will feature a live performance by Maria Arnal, one of Catalonia’s most distinctive voices and winner of the Gaudí Award for the film’s music.

The film also launches this year’s Catalan Focus, celebrating the region’s dynamic cinema with 28 feature films and three shorts, from timeless classics to acclaimed new releases — one of the most extensive Catalan showcases ever presented at an international festival.

According to Joan Ruiz, coordinator of the Catalan film promotion agency Catalan Films, the Catalan audiovisual industry is experiencing one of its most exciting periods. In recent years, Catalonia has produced over one hundred feature films annually, with around 1,400 festival selections worldwide each year. By dedicating this year’s Focus to Catalonia, PÖFF celebrates a film community whose distinctive voice, artistic ambition, and co-production strength resonate internationally.

“This year’s Special Focus captures both the energy of today’s creators and the legacy of a rich cinematic past — from Barcelona’s role as a creative hub and its resilience during the Franco era, to the innovation, rebellious spirit, and international reach that define Catalan filmmaking today,” says PÖFF programmer Javier Garcia Puerto. “It is the most complete showcase ever presented — a true panorama of Catalan cinema’s diversity, context, and future.”

Three Catalan films will have their world premieres in Tallinn: Júlia de Paz Solvas’s [Good Daughter] in the Official Selection – Competition, Lluís Miñarro’s Emergency Exit in Rebels with a Cause, and Amanda Sans Pantling’s Miss Jobson in the doc@PÖFF International Documentary Competition. Two children’s films in the Just Film competition — The Treasure of Barracuda and Leo and Lou — will also screen for the first time outside Spain.

Oliver Laxe’s Sirât, winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, represents Spain in the Oscar race for Best International Feature, while Carla Simón’s Romeria, which also premiered in Cannes’ Official Competition, is likewise shortlisted for the European Film Awards.

The historical drama Magellan, co-produced by Catalonia and directed by Lav Diaz, represents the Philippines in the International Feature Oscar category. Isabel Coixet’s romantic drama Three Goodbyes premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and Irene Iborra Rizo’s stop-motion film Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake debuted in Annecy and is also shortlisted for the European Animation Award.

The program also includes an eight-film retrospective dedicated to landmark works in Catalan cinema history — from Francisco Rovira Beleta’s Oscar-nominated Los Tarantos, considered one of the greatest flamenco films ever made, to Agustí Villaronga’s raw and controversial horror film In a Glass Cage, and Pere Portabella’s experimental classic Umbracle, by one of Catalonia’s great cinematic rebels.

All retrospective films have been newly restored.

• Emergency Exit, dir: Lluís Miñarro
• Nothing Personal, dir: Javier Marco
• Flight of the Stork, dir: Soumaya Hidalgo Djahdou & Berta Vicente Salas
• Forastera, dir: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias
• Frontier, dir: Judith Colell
• Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes, dir: Gabriel Azorín
• Magellan, dir: Lav Diaz
• Miss Jobson, dir: Amanda Sans Pantling
• Nomad Shadow, dir: Eimi Imanishi
• Romeria, dir: Carla Simón
• Sirât, dir: Oliver Laxe
• Strange River, dir: Jaume Claret Muxart
• The Good Daughter, dir: Júlia de Paz Solvas
• The Virgin of the Quarry Lake, dir: Laura Casabé
• They Will Be Dust, dir: Carlos Marqués-Marcet
• Three Goodbyes, dir: Isabel Coixet

• Beef, dir: Ingride Santos
• Leo & Lou, dir: Carlos Solano
• Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, dir: Irene Iborra Rizo
• The Treasure of Barracuda, dir: Adrià Garcia

• Gilbert, dir: Arturo Lacal, Alex Salu ja Jordi Jiménez
• Pantelleria, dir: Jan Cornet
• Waves, dir: Juanjo Giménez

• Anguish (1987), dir: Bigas Luna
• In a Glass Cage (1986), dir: Agustí Villaronga
• Los Tarantos (1963), dir: Francisco Rovira Beleta
• María Rosa (1965), dir: Armando Moreno
• Ocaña, an Intermittent Portrait (1978), dir: Ventura Pons
• Things I Never Told You (1996), dir: Isabel Coixet
• Umbracle (1972), dir: Pere Portabella
• Vida en sombras (1949), dir: Lorenzo Llobet Gràcia

The Catalan Focus is made possible thanks to the Catalan Cultural Agency (Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals), the Catalan film promotion agency Catalan Films, the Catalunya Film Commission, the Ramon Llull Institute, and the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya).
In connection with the Focus, a representative Catalan delegation of around 50 film professionals will also visit Tallinn.

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) will take place from 7 to 23 November.
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