Time: 6:30 - 9:00pm Venue: Arts Two FADS, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS
The Centre for Catalan Studies at Queen Mary University of Londonpresents the final evening of its film season "The new Contemporary Catalan Cinema", an evening to explore womanhood and coming of age narratives from two of the most exciting young filmmakers hailing from Barcelona: Elena Martín and Belén Funes.
The intimate looks crafted in Júlia Ist and The Hopeless push the boundaries and go beyond the notion of a strictly Catalan cinema to map out experiences that are central to contemporary woman selfhood. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Elena Martín who not only is part of the new wave of Catalan filmmakers but has also appeared and starred in some of these women-led and intimate projects which are considered to be part of this new tendency in cinema made in Catalonia.
Elena Martín (Barcelona, 1992) is a screenwriter, actress and director who graduated in Audiovisual Communication at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Martín is a multi-faceted and prolific artist who alternates between film and theatre. She is part of the creative lab Els Malnascuts and is currently performing in the play THIS IS REAL LOVE at Sala Beckett in Barcelona. As an actress she also has credits in "Les amigues de l'Àgata" (2015), Meritxell Colell's "Facing the Wind" (2018) and Irene Moray's lastest Berlinale premiering short "Suc de Síndria" (2019). It was during her time at university that Elena stepped into the directorial terrain and wrote, directed and starred in her graduation film Júlia Ist which won her the Biznaga de Plata for Best Director at Malaga's Film Festival.
Júlia, an architecture student from Barcelona, decides to take an Erasmus year in Berlin. This is how, without much consideration and driven by her inertia, Júlia leaves her parents home for the first time in her life. Full of expectancies and lacking life experience Júlia finds herself lost in a cold and grey Berlin, undergoing a student exchange year far from that adventure that she initially imagined.
Merche is 33 years old and is not at the best moment of her life. The apartment where she lives by herself is too big and she wants to rent out a room, probably because she used to live there with someone who has left. But also because she has no money right now. Yet her urgency to rent it out and her angst, scare away all possible flatmates. Today, her friend Irene has invited her to a party at her house. But as we all know, some days it would be better not to get out of bed.
This event will take place at the Film and Drama Studio (FADS) located in the first floor of the Arts 2 building at Queen Mary's Mile End Campus and has a step free access. Closest Tube Station is Mile End.
This is an event supported by the Centre for Catalan Studies at Queen Mary University and Institut Ramon Llull.