• This 23rd edition of the film event will gather most of its guests in the Symphonic Hall of the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium to present its contents
• Actress Mónica López will conduct an already sold-out opening ceremony that will also include the screening of the hundred-year-old movie Sherlock Jr. with live music by the Gran Canaria Big Band
• This year’s opening will take place on a day in which, from early in the morning, Cine Yelmo Las Arenas will have started to screen some of the works programmed in the different sections of the Festival
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Thursday, April 18, 2024. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival’s 23rd edition will present its contents to the public and most of the festival guests on Friday night, April 19, at the Symphonic Hall of the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium.
From that morning until April 28, seven screens of Cine Yelmo Las Arenas will be at the disposal of an intense program that will show over a hundred titles from 28 countries in 143 screenings.
In a way, all these works will be advanced in the opening ceremony that’ll be conducted by actress Mónica López, an unquestionable talent of the Spanish audiovisual industry. After the preview, the Symphony Hall will host the screening of Buster Keaton’s centenary work, Sherlock Jr., which will be shown with Duke Ellington’s music performed live by the Gran Canaria Big Band, under the direction of Chano Gil.
Recovering silent classical films and showing them with live music is part of the philosophy of “Camera Obscura”, a section that celebrates the history of an art tied to music from its very beginning. In addition to the opening film, this section will also include Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Mikaël (Michael, Germany, 1924, 94 min), in this case at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas. The screening will be accompanied by music commissioned by the Festival and composed especially for the occasion by Laura Vega, and that will be performed by the International Bach Festival ensemble.
The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, organized by the Culture area of the Gran-Canarian capital’s City Council through Promoción de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has received public assistance by the ICAA [Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts], the program for the internationalization of Spanish culture, PICE Visitantes, of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), from the Consejería de Universidades, Ciencia e Innovación y Cultura del Gobierno de Canarias, as well as public support from Promotur Turismo Islas Canarias.
Among the Festival’s collaborators we may find Fundación Auditorio Teatro, Cines Yelmo, Las Arenas Shopping Center and Hotel Cristina by Tigotan, places which also function as venues or hold activities of the film event; as well as other institutions and companies such as Sagulpa, Hospitales San Roque, Jameson, Ikigai, Cientouno Group, el Centro de Cultura Audiovisual de Gran Canaria, Audiovisuales Canarias, Music Library &SFX, Blackout Films and International Bach Festival. Likewise, its market, MECAS, has been possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Gran Canaria Film Commission-Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria and the support of Canary Islands Film and Proexca.
The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Mid Atlantic University, the CIFP Felo Monzón Grau-Bassas, the Canary Islands Film Institute, the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, Digital 104, the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, CIMA Asociación de Mujeres Cineastas y de Medios Audiovisuales, the Cartagena International Film Festival, the Gijón International Film Festival, the Barcelona Independent Film Festival, Toyota Canarias and Very Good Script are also collaborators.
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