La Seminci appoints Javier H. Estrada and Mariona Viader as co-directors after the demise of José Luis Cienfuegos | Culture | EUROtoday

The Valladolid movie competition (Seminci) has named the tandem fashioned by Javier H. Estrada and Mariona Viander as co-directors as successors to José Luis Cienfuegos, who died unexpectedly of a stroke on December 2 on the age of 60. The new managers of the movie contest belonged to the Cienfuegos group: Estrada was liable for programming and Viader was the overall coordinator of the occasion, which celebrated its seventieth version final October. The choice was made by the Governing Council of Seminci and the measure was introduced by the Councilor for Tourism, Blanca Jiménez, who introduced that this duo shall be answerable for the 2026 cultural occasion, looking for to offer “continuity” to the work of their predecessor, and that to 2027 they may look extra calmly for an individual for administration “in conditions of stability.”

Estrada thanked the group that accompanied the late director for his or her belief: “The festival is in the best hands to create an ambitious Seminci, open to the greatest possible number of cinematographic perspectives, which is both solid and unpredictable.” The individual liable for the programming till now has valued the “solid foundations” of these answerable for coordinating the Seminci and has assured that they may keep the road set by Cienfuegos, which introduced renewal and a really private type to the Valladolid competition. Therefore, he acknowledged, confidence shall be maintained in “auteur cinema” and in movies with a “humanistic character and social perspective.” Estrada additionally thanked the work of the opposite members of the choice group: Eulàlia Iglesias, Carolina Martínez, José Cabrera, Andreea Pătru and Álvaro Arroba.

The Councilor for Tourism has highlighted the creative and human worth of Cienfuegos, whose surprising demise brought about desolation within the cultural world and within the metropolis, and has additionally indicated that Estrada and Viadar shall be answerable for the 71st version and that in 2026 a variety course of shall be opened, by means of a public name, to designate a brand new director of the Seminci for the 2027 contest, quantity 72. The goal, that there be “conditions of stability” that keep the standard of Seminci and that the place has room to adapt to the brand new duty and traits of the cinematographic occasion. The Council’s decision “has risen to the occasion,” Jiménez maintained, praising the “generosity” of some appointees who “could have stepped aside, but have not done so.”