The festival, taking place between October 21st and 25th, features 57 films, with 31 competing for awards, including a €2,000 prize for the winning fiction film. The official selection includes feature and short fiction films, documentaries, and the Som Secundària section with 7 shorts. Screenings are held at Screenbox Lleida, the Ilerna center, and the Auditorium of the UdL Rectorate.
Festival director Judith Vives emphasized that Som Cinema not only screens Catalan cinema but has expanded with parallel activities to encourage new professionals, offering them support, networking, and contacts.
Pilar Bosch, Councilor for Culture of the Lleida City Council, stressed that the festival aligns with the regional strategy to make Catalonia a filming destination, highlighting cinema's capacity to convey values, culture, and landscapes.
Núria Casado, Vice-Rector for Culture at the UdL, congratulated the festival's organizers for celebrating Catalan cinema and contemporary production, noting the strengthened partnership through the new SomUdL section for students.
The opening ceremony was attended by Ana Serret, director of the inaugural film Apuntes para una ficción consentida, producer Xesc Cabot, and actress Violeta Rodríguez. Serret explained that the film portrays the challenges faced by a Swiss actress in Spain and the reality of a changing Madrid.
The opening film, Apuntes para una ficción consentida, tells the story of Lea Grand (Isabelle Stoffel), a Swiss actress in Madrid striving for a career while grappling with displacement, precariousness, and language barriers.
This morning saw the presentation of shorts from the new SomUdL section, open to UdL students, featuring works such as Cafè per emportar and El chat.
Tomorrow, Thursday, shorts from Ilerna's Vocational Training Cycle, the documentary Bèstia (presented by director Helena Garza), short film sessions at Screenbox, and Som Secundària shorts at Ilerna will be screened. In the afternoon, the documentaries El destí de panacea (presented by Iván Zahínos and Vicenç Ortega) and the feature film Cos de vidre (with director Marc Comabella and producer Eva Pagerols) will be shown.
