30 Years of l'Alternativa

We are celebrating 30 years of championing independent filmmaking! And just as we rescreened a selection of iconic arthouse films from the festival’s history and the evolution of independent cinema to mark our two decades of existence, for our 30th anniversary we want to acknowledge the support we have received from critics over all these editions. We have therefore teamed up with ACCEC, the Catalan Association of Film Critics and Writers, to ask their members to look back at our journey from a different perspective, by revealing the films and filmmakers that made the greatest impression on them and putting together a selection to share with a new generation of filmgoers.

Critics Pere Alberó, Ramón Alfonso, Laura Blanco, Aaron Cabañas, Philipp Engel, Ignasi Franch, Mariana Freijomil, Mireia Iniesta and Marla Jacarilla have curated a programme of films by Pietro Marcello, Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel, Agustina Comedi, Boris Mitić, Don Hertzfeld, Jem Cohen, Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside, Andrés Duque and Deborah Stratman. A selection that touches on many the themes we typically focus on and offers a representative sample of the different forms in which we have programmed experimental narratives over the years that are customary in our programming.

Each rescreening will be accompanied by a special podcast in which critics will introduce their chosen film and filmmaker, set them in context and recall what it was like to watch the film at l’Alternativa first time round.

Ràdio l’Alternativa, the festival podcast we launched last year, returns for a second season to focus on these rescreenings in nine special episodes. In collaboration once again with the Xarxa de Ràdios Comunitàries de Barcelona, we have recorded these podcasts at the studios of Ràdio Maconda in Gabriel García Márquez Library, in Barcelona, recently voted the world’s best public library.

Some of the films in this section will only be available online. We shall also be holding panel discussions on a range of themes running through this selection of films. More details to follow.