Acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice will present his film “Close Your Eyes” at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in May, more than three decades after his last feature film. The film will be shown in the Cannes Premières section, an official section of the festival that does not compete for the Palme d’Or.
The story is about the mysterious disappearance of an actor and how his story resurfaces years later in a television program, demonstrating that cinema is a way of capturing the past and perpetuating people’s memories. The cast includes José Coronado and Ana Torrent, who previously worked with Eric on “The Spirit of the Beehive” in 1973.
Erice, an internationally renowned director despite having a short filmography, last presented his work at Cannes in 1983 with “El Sur,” which won the Jury Prize. He is the only Spanish director to screen a film in the festival’s official section. Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will also be present at Cannes, screening his English-language short “Strange Way of Life,” starring US actor Ethan Hawke and Chilean actor Pedro Pascal.
In addition, several Latin American films will also be screened in other sections of the festival, including “Los delincuentes” by Argentina’s Rodrigo Moreno and “Retratos fantasmas” by Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho. The Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 16 to 27.