Satellites: Clara Roquet

For the third consecutive year, we are launching our _Satellites, celestial sessions with acclaimed Spanish filmmakers whose paths have often crossed with l’Alternativa and who splash down at the festival to give a masterclass and curate a programme of films linked to their creative universe.

This year, we have invited screenwriter, director and screenwriting teacher Clara Roquet (Malla, 1988) to explore the complex ties within family relationships and their impact on her characters’ lives and personal development as they seek to forge their own identity. In parallel to her masterclass _{Creating Characters: From Writing to Directing}, she has sought to strike up a dialogue between her own short El adiós (2016) and Carlos Saura’s highly acclaimed feature Cría cuervos (1976), two films in which both directors seek to analyse and untangle family dynamics.

In 2021 we programmed Roquet’s debut feature, Libertad, as one of our Sneak Previews. She also written screenplays for the likes of Carlos Marqués-Marcet (10.000 km and Els dies que vindran), Jaime Rosales (Petra), Mounia Akl (Costa Brava, Lebanon) and Elena Martín Gimeno (Creatura).

In addition to raising the profile of Spanish filmmakers crafting alternative visions to mainstream cinema through their own original ways of working, the _Satellites section also provides unique opportunities for direct, creative exchange between filmgoers and filmmakers.