Valladolid International Film Week director José Luis Cienfuegos has died suddenly in Madrid from stroke. He was 60.
News of the death has shaken the Spanish film industry. The much-loved and respected Cienfuegos was the director of the Valladolid event, known as Seminci, having previously been in charge of the Gijon and Seville film festivals.
Seminci announced his passing in a press release and noted that he had devoted ”three decades to the direction of some of the most important festivals in Spain”.
Cienfuegos took over as director of Valladolid in 2023 and expanded the event’s international outreach. With characteristic energy and charisma, he recently oversaw the 70th edition, which ran October 24 to November 1.
Titles in the latest edition included Chloe Zhao’s Oscar contender Hamnet, Harry Lighton’s Bifa- and Gotham-winning Pillion, the Dardenne brothers’ Young Mothers, and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, which won Seminci’s top award, the Golden Spike, ex-aequo with Lav Diaz’s Magellan.
The international scope of Valladolid, its support of Spanish cinema and new auteurs, its industry activities and its goal to attract young audiences were some of the aspects that Cienfuegos worked hardest on.
The Seminci press release noted how Cienfuegos’s “unmistakable leadership style helped in renewing the festival while remaining faithful to the history and spirit that have defined the Seminci”.
It added: “This continued up to the 70th edition, undoubtedly one of the most successful in the festival’s long history – a perfect example of his vision of what festivals should be: places for dialogue and learning through an ambitious and heterodox programme, strengthening the bonds between creators and audiences, and above all, creating useful and relevant spaces for the industry and for filmmakers. He radically transformed the way in which festivals are done in our country, into places where culture and life were celebrated through cinema.”
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