Karlos Alastruey

In the present scene of independent filmmakers who are active in the present Spanish film scene, set apart from the rest is Karlos Alastruey, a Basque filmmaker residing in Navarra who has achieved important recognition at festivals like the Sonoma Wine County Film Festival, the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films or the New York City International Film Festival, among others. His best-known work to date is, undoubtedly, Lodo (2009), his thesis film that unfolds on three different levels in the main character´s mind. Anamorphosis (2011) took the ideas from Lodo to a much more personal and intimate level, and from there he developed a series of works on invisible collective anxiety and the individual's inactivity. Outstanding in this respect are the works that Sitges 2012 is presenting this year like Ada (2011), a short film with apocalyptic contours where a teenage girl tries to survive in her desolate environment or La extensión del cielo (2012), another tale of solitudes, with surreal tones and connections that remind us of movies by Jodorowsky, Arrabal or Rocha. Undoubtedly, Alastruey should be, as of right now, one of the independent voices to bear in mind on the present Spanish film scene, more daring in times that aren't excessively good for poetry, and even less for a terrible, anguished, equivocal poetry like the Basque creator's.

Sitges Film Festival