• Canarias Cinema has programmed a special screening dedicated to a production company that played a key role in the development of short films in the Archipelago during the 90s: the short film Ruleta and the feature film Hombres felices, both by writer, playwright, screenwriter and director Roberto Santiago
• Actress Blanca Rodríguez and producer Ana Sánchez Gijón will attend this screening scheduled for Monday 22 at 8:00 p.m. at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas (Screen 8)
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Sunday, April 21, 2024. For La Mirada Producciones, the 30 years that have passed since it started its activity in the Archipelago in 1994 are full of adventures and experiences, and also of recognition for the creators who have earned the company’s support. For the Spanish short film industry, it was essential to have a production company like this one, which never treated the format as a minor work.
Their résumé speaks for itself: the production company has been behind projects that have been nominated for the Oscar, such as Esposados (Linked) (1996) by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; for the Goya, such as El largo viaje de Rústico (1994) by Rolando Díaz; that have won awards such as La raya (1997) by Andrés Koppel, or that have opened Cannes’ doors: Ruleta (Roulette) (1999) by Roberto Santiago.
And it is precisely this last short film, starring Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Loles León, Mirtha Ibarra, Mapi Sagaseta and Blanca Rodríguez, the one the production company has recovered for the Film Festival together with the feature film Hombres felices (Happy Men), both by writer, screenwriter, playwright and film director Roberto Santiago. It was with him that Ana Sánchez-Gijón, in charge of La Mirada, took the leap to feature films.
Dozens of projects would follow, including La isla interior (The Island Inside) by Félix Sabroso and Dunia Ayaso; 6 puntos sobre Emma (6 Points About Emma), by Roberto Pérez Toledo; or El último arquero (The Last Archer), by Dácil Manrique de Lara. All of them have been programmed by the Gran-Canarian Film Festival.
Ruleta and Hombres felices will be shown as part Canarias Cinema on the evening of Monday, April 22, at 8:00 p.m. at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas Screen 8. Producer Ana Sánchez-Gijón and actress Blanca Rodríguez will present this special screening that constitutes a celebration for cinema in general and for Canarian cinema in particular.
These are two important titles in Santiago’s career, who is also an acclaimed writer in the field of literature: with La rebelión de los buenos he won the 2023 Fernando Lara Award 2023 with the saga Los futbolísimos he has conquered children’s and young audiences. He has also received several awards as a playwright and has premiered his own works on the big screen, either as a director or as a screenwriter.
Thanks to Ruleta he took his talent to Cannes and obtained dozens of awards at different international festivals; with Hombres felices, in which he repeated with Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and joined Sergi López (Fotogramas de Plata Award for this film), María Esteve, Pepón Nieto and Carlos Hipólito, he tried his luck with the feature film format for the first time.
These films are an excellent example of his particular way of looking at the female universe with determined, intelligent, strong and also vulnerable characters. In both, the author reflecs his particular acid humor on their conflicts.
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