Set in Spain’s green mountainous north and boasting record ticket sales and a lineup which mixes big fest winners and Spanish world premieres, Spain’s Gijón Film Festival (Ficx) opens this Friday with Richard Linklater’s Berlin Silver Bear winner “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke as Richard Rodger’s highly troubled songwriter.
Unspooling Nov. 14-22, Gijón will offer up Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, its favourite son Hong Sangsoo, already a triple winner, this time round with “What Does that Nature Say to You?” The competition is studded by other hallowed auteurs such as Radu Jude and his Berlin contender “Kontinental ’25” and Ira Sachs with his healthily selling “Peter Hujar’s Day.”
Gijón’s big draws for many, however, lie also elsewhere. One is a competition packed by on-the-rise filmmakers, bidding for more major recognition after prizes or critical applause in major sidebars of big fests, or events just outside A-list events,…