Estranhos Encontros opens its second edition with the “State of Cinema” discussion at the Instituto Cervantes

São Paulo · Estranhos Encontros: São Paulo International Film Festival opens its second edition on 16 September at 7pm, at the Instituto Cervantes in São Paulo. To mark the start of the festival, the evening hosts “State of Cinema”, a conversation bringing together the Spanish filmmaker Pablo Llorca and the filmmaker Lina Chamié.

The conversation offers a look at cinema's present moment and at the shifts running through the production, circulation and experience of films. Drawing on different trajectories and perspectives, the guests will discuss the conditions for creation today, the challenges facing independent cinema, and the possibilities opening up for the future.

Pablo Llorca's participation also inaugurates one of the main attractions of the festival's second edition. The Spanish filmmaker will be in São Paulo for a retrospective devoted to his work, gathering 12 feature films that span his more than three decades of career.

Llorca is a director, screenwriter, producer and editor, and has been building a filmography marked by independent modes of production since 1993. His presence at Estranhos Encontros is part of the festival's aim to promote not only the screening of films but also direct contact between filmmakers and audiences.

With this opening, Estranhos Encontros begins 12 days of programming devoted to Brazilian and international cinema. Between 16 and 27 September, the festival presents feature and short film competitions, a Brazilian shorts showcase, and a 16mm retrospective devoted to the filmmaker Frans van de Staak, at the Centro Cultural São Paulo and the Centro Cultural Olido.

Admission is free.