This September has been particularly prolific for the release of debut films. One of the most anticipated has been Carmen y Lola, by Arantxa Echevarría, which participated in the last Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, a historic event for Spanish cinema.
The success of Carmen y Lola in commercial cinemas also demonstrates the importance of festivals as a promotional strategy before release. Arantxa’s debut film achieved the best average per copy in its first weekend in theaters.
It seems to have followed in the footsteps of films like Carla Simón’s Summer 1993, which, after participating in Berlin and winning the Best Debut Film award, also had great success in cinemas.
There are other debut films that have already premiered or are awaiting their premiere soon and have also participated in festivals, although all of them within Spain, such as Sin fin, by the Alenda Brothers (official section of Málaga), Los amores cobardes, by Carmen Blanco (Zonazine de Málaga and Alicante Festival) and Jaulas, by Nicolás Pacheco, which awaits its premiere in the Official Section of Seminci in October.
A Year of Debut Films
Internationally, it has been a good year for new directors, with two films like The Heiresses and Touch Me Not, which were the big winners in Berlin last February.
As I published last year, I have reviewed the most important sections and festivals in this circuit.
This review has several objectives: to better understand the festival circuit for debut and first films, to have a list of the most interesting films of the year, to identify the directors worth following, and to detect the trends in cinema made by new directors.
The festivals that are part of this circuit can admit up to the director’s third film at most. Therefore, this list is not only of debut films, but is made up of the first films by their directors.
Furthermore, I have limited it to festivals that have been held this year 2018. It should be noted that there are festivals yet to be held before the end of the year.
In total, there are about 15 titles, along with the festivals where they have been awarded:
#1 The Heiresses, by Marcelo Martinessi, is a co-production between Paraguay, Germany, Uruguay, Norway, Brazil, and France. One of the most recognized films this year. It participated in the Berlinale, winning the Alfred Bauer Award, and also won in Sydney and Transilvania.
#2 Touch Me Not, by Adina Pintilie, is also a co-production, in this case between Romania, Germany, and the Czech Republic. It shared the awards in Berlin with The Heiresses, winning the prestigious Best Debut Film award, the GWFF First Feature Award.
#3 Diamantino by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt (Portugal, France, and Brazil), won the Best Debut Film award at the Cannes Critics’ Week, the Nespresso Award. Critics’ Week is dedicated to a director’s first and second films.
#4 3/4 by Ilian Metev (Bulgaria and Germany), won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sofia International Film Festival, which is dedicated solely to a director’s first and second films.
#5 Tesnota, by Kantemir Balagov (Russia) and #6 Winter Brothers, by Hlynur Pálmason (Denmark and Iceland) won the Grand Jury Prize at the French festival Premiers Plans, also dedicated to first and second films. It is one of the most prestigious festivals in this segment.
#7 The Road Not Taken, by Tang Gaopeng (China) won the Shanghai Asian New Talent Awards for Best Debut Film.
#8 Baronesa, by Juliana Antunes (Brazil) and #9 I Remember the Crows, by Gustavo Vinagrey (Brazil) won the City of Lisbon Award at IndieLisboa, where only new directors up to their third film can participate.
#10 Rifle, by Davi Pretto (Brazil), won the Grand Prize at Jeonju, in Korea. It is one of the most important first film festivals in Asia.
#11 Azougue Nazaré, by Tiago Melo (Brazil) won the award in the Bright Future Competition at Rotterdam, a competition where only a director’s first film can participate in its world or international premiere.
The Locarno Festival is another A-list festival that has an exclusive space for debut films. This year, the First Feature Competition award was won by #12 Alles ist gut, by Eva Trobisch (Germany).
The “Luigi De Laurentiis” Lion of the Future award at the Venice Film Festival this year went to #13 The Day I Lost My Shadow, by Soudade Kaadan (Syria, Lebanon, France, and Qatar). Venice is another A-list festival that has a section dedicated exclusively to a director’s first film.
In this case, The Day I Lost My Shadow participated in the Orizzonti section. This is a transversal award, meaning any film that meets the necessary conditions among all those selected at the festival is eligible. The award for best debut film in Berlin works in the same way.
#14 Suleiman Mountain, by Elizaveta Stishova (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Poland) won the Best Debut Film award for Eastern countries at Karlovy Vary, which is the East of the West award.
#15 Wiñaypacha, by Óscar Catacora (Peru) won the Best Debut Film award at Guadalajara in Mexico, participating in the Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film section.
In addition to these festivals, the San Sebastián Film Festival is being held this week, which has an important section for debut films called New Directors. Also, at the end of October, the Tokyo Film Festival will take place, which presents the prestigious Asian Future award to a debut film by an Asian director.
In November, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will take place, which features the First Feature Competition among its competitive sections.
The Importance of Co-productions
In this selection, the importance of co-productions should be highlighted; no less than 8 films are co-productions, compared to 7 produced by a single country, and where, curiously, Brazil stands out especially, with no less than four solo films and two co-productions.
I believe it is important to reflect on this data, as if we look at the debut films by Spanish directors, there are very few co-productions. This may be one of the reasons for the low international presence of our directors in debut and new director competitions, where they are practically non-existent.
I hope this post helps you navigate this circuit, whether you are designing a distribution strategy for your first film, or if you are interested in the trends and most prominent new directors in the international circuit.