Two female directors making waves at Sitges Film Festival

Yesterday was another day without big stars at the Sitges Film Festival, although there were several interesting films by female directors, especially the Italian film Lazzaro felice, by Alice Rohrwacher, and Fuga, by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska, both announcing their candidacy for an important award at the festival.

Sergi López arrives in Sitges today to promote Lazzaro Felice,, in which he only has a small part. The film, which received the award for best script in Cannes, was screened early yesterday and received a standing ovation despite being far from the violence celebrated in such an ironic and festive spirit by fans of the festival. The innocence and kindness of the protagonist illuminate a film that oscillates between spirituality and realism, drama and fantasy, and is loaded with biblical references. It is a film that shows off the visual and narrative talents of the young Tuscan filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher.

Fuga, the work by young filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska, also kept spectators glued to their seats, telling the tale of an alienated woman who suffers from memory loss and is forced to return to her former family home to assume her role as wife, mother and daughter, despite her estranged husband and son not being able to recognise her.