Valladolid International Film Festival

The Valladolid International Film Festival, popularly known as Seminci^{[n. 1]} (short for Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid; transl. 'Valladolid International Film Week'), is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain. First held in 1956 as Semana de Cine Religioso de Valladolid ('Valladolid Religious Film Week'), the Seminci is one of the longest-standing film festivals in Spain.^[3] It stands out in the area of films d'auteur and independent films.

Valladolid International Film Festival

Giant clapperboard of the SEMINCI 2007
Location	Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain
Founded	20 March 1956; 66 years ago (1956-03-20) (as Valladolid Religious Film Week)
Awards	Golden Spike
Website	http://www.seminci.es/

The Seminci conventionally takes place every October,^[4] about a month later than the San Sebastián Film Festival, the most prestigious film festival in Spain.

History

The first edition of the festival began on 20 March 1956 under the name of Semana de Cine Religioso de Valladolid with a goal of promoting Catholic moral values in conjunction with the celebration of Holy Week in Valladolid. For the first two years it was not competitive and no prizes were awarded. In 1958 the Don Bosco gold and silver awards and the Special Mention appeared, which the following year were replaced by the Lábaro and the Ciudad de Valladolid Award, respectively.

 

The façade of the Teatro Calderón, the festival's traditional venue, during the 66th edition.

The films to be shown were already selected according to quality and not quantity criteria, even if that meant having an insufficient number of films. Starting in 1960, the festival was renamed Semana Internacional de Cine Religioso y de Valores Humanos (the International Week of Religious Cinema and Human Values) and the theme of the films was expanded, accepting those in which human and committed values prevailed. That year the Golden Spike also began to be awarded, alongside the existing prizes and (since 1961) the San Gregorio Prize.

In 1973 the festival adopted its current name, due to the progressive increase in the films in competition and increased interest from producers. The following year the Lábaro disappeared and the Espiga became the main award. Subsequently, the awards for best actor and actress (1979), best screenplay (1984), best first film (1989), the Jury (1991) and the best new director (1992), among others, were introduced.

Golden Spike

 

Films compete for the Golden Spike [es] (Espiga de Oro),^[5] the top prize awarded at the festival. A list displaying some of the winners is as follows:

• 44th (1999): East Is East.^[6]
• 45th (2000): Requiem for a Dream & The Town Is Quiet.^[7]
• 46th (2001): Italian for Beginners.^[8]
• 47th (2002): Sweet Sixteen.^[9]
• 48th (2003): Osama & Crimson Gold.^[10]
• 49th (2004): 3-Iron.^[11]
• 50th (2005): In Bed.^[12]
• 51st (2006): The Optimists.^[13]
• 52nd (2007): 14 Kilometers [es].^[14]
• 53rd (2008): Estômago: A Gastronomic Story.^[15]
• 54th (2009): Honeymoons.^[16]
• 55th (2010): Certified Copy & No Return.^[17]
• 56th (2011): Come as You Are.^[18]
• 57th (2012): Horses of God.^[19]
• 58th (2013): Tokyo Family.^[20]
• 59th (2014): The Farewell Party.^[21]
• 60th (2015): Rams.^[22]
• 61st (2016): Like Crazy.^[23]
• 62nd (2017): The Nile Hilton Incident.^[24]
• 63rd (2018): Genesis.^[25]
• 64th (2019): Öndög.^[26]
• 65th (2020): Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.^[27]
• 66th (2021): Last Film Show.^[28]
• 67th (2022): Return to Dust.^[29]

Acknowledgments

In 2016 the Seminci was recognized with the Castilla y León Prize for the Arts, the highest institutional award from the region of Castile and León.^[30]

Informational notes

1. Spanish pronunciation: [seˈmĩn̟.θi], often bastardly pronounced same as Seminchi ([seˈmĩnʲ.t͡ʃi]),^[1][2] as if it were a Macaronic Italian word.

References

Citations

1. Encinas, Antonio G. (4 November 2015). "SEMana INternacional de CHIne". El Norte de Castilla.
2. Zurro, Javier (22 October 2018). "Letizia, la reina cinéfila que prefiere la Seminci a los Goya". El Español.
3. Jurado Martín & Nieto Martín 2014, p. 105.
4. Jurado Martín & Nieto Martín 2014, p. 117.
5. Redacción. ""Minari" de Lee Isaac Chung y "Nowhere Special" de Uberto Pasolini competirán por la Espiga de Oro en la SEMINCI 2020 | Cine" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-10-01.
6. Fernández-Santos, Ángel (31 October 1999). "'Oriente es Oriente' gana la Espiga de Oro y el director Kitano el premio al mejor actor". El País.
7. "'Réquiem por un sueño', mejor película de la historia de la Seminci". El Norte de Castilla. 26 June 2015.
8. "La película danesa 'Italiano para principiantes' gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". El País. 3 November 2001.
9. Fernández-Santos, Ángel (3 November 2002). "Ken Loach gana con 'Sweet sixteen' la Espiga de Oro". El País.
10. "«Osama» y «Sangre y Oro» comparten la Espiga de Oro en Valladolid". ABC. 1 November 2003.
11. Fernández, M.A (30 October 2004). "El surcoreano Kim Ki-duk gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci por «Hierro 3»". La Voz de Galicia.
12. Torreiro, Casimiro (30 October 2005). "'En la cama', de Matías Bize, sorprendente ganadora de la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". El País.
13. "La Seminci otorga la Espiga de Oro a la película serbia 'Optimisti'". 20minutos.es. 28 October 2006.
14. Pérez, Mónica G. (3 November 2011). "'14 kilómetros' gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". 20minutos.es.
15. Hopewell, John (3 November 2008). "'Estomago' wins at Valladolid". Variety.
16. Hopewell, John (2 November 2009). "Valladolid goes for 'Honeymoons'". Variety.
17. "«Copia Conforme» y «Sin Retorno» Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". La Razón. 30 October 2010.
18. "La belga 'Hasta la vista', espiga de Oro de la Seminci". El País. 29 October 2011.
19. "La Espiga de Oro para 'Los caballos de Dios', de Nabil Ayouc". Público. 27 October 2012.
20. "La película japonesa 'Una familia de Tokio', de Yoji Yamada, gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". 26 October 2013.
21. "Palmarés de la Seminci de Valladolid 2014". Fotogramas.
22. ""Hrútar" (El valle de los carneros), Espiga de Oro en la 60ª Seminci". El Día. 31 October 2015.
23. "Locas de alegría, de Paolo Virzì, gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci 2016". Europa Press. 30 October 2016.
24. ""The Nile Hilton incident", de Tarik Saleh, Espiga de Oro de la 62 Seminci". EFE. 28 October 2017.
25. Regueira, Samuel (27 October 2018). "'Genèse' y 'Yomeddine' triunfan en la 63 Seminci". El Norte de Castilla.
26. "'Öndög gana la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci". El País. 26 October 2019.
27. "'Preparations to be Together' triunfa en la 65 edición con tres premios, incluyendo la Espiga de Oro". Europa Press. 31 October 2020.
28. "[Seminci 2021] 'Last Film Show' se alza con la Espiga de Oro en Valladolid". Cinemanía. 30 October 2021.
29. "El chino Li Ruijun, galardonado con la Espiga de Oro de la Seminci con 'Return to Dust'". rtve.es. 29 October 2022.
30. "Herrera apela al legado histórico de León y de Castilla para reivindicar el potencial de la comunidad". Diario de León. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2020.

Bibliography

• Jurado Martín, Montserrat; Nieto Martín, Alberto (2014). "Nuevas propuestas, viejos circuitos: El papel de los festivales de cine españoles en la consolidación de los nuevos realizadores" [New proposals, old circuits. The role of spanish film festivals in the consolidation of new directors] (PDF). Secuencias: Tevista de Historia del Cine. Madrid: UAM Ediciones (39): 100–122. ISSN 1134-6795.

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 41°39′14″N 4°43′28″W / 41.65389°N 4.72444°W / 41.65389; -4.72444