The XXIII Tarazona and El Moncayo Comedy Film Festival ‘Paco Martínez Soria’ has continued its programming this Thursday with a day marked by the premiere of ‘El Taser’, by the Aragonese director Borja Echeverría, and the performance of Bianca Kovacs at the Off Festival. The Teatro Bellas Artes has also hosted the fifth session of the Official Short Film Section and the live recording of ‘El Podcast de Pelocas’, while the Children’s Morning Program has brought cinema closer to family audiences in Tarazona.
The programme of the penultimate day of the festival includes the screening of ‘El Taser’, directed by Borja Echeverría, within the I Official Section of Ibero-American Comedy Feature Films. The director from Zaragoza is especially excited about the premiere in Tarazona of a film that was born, precisely, with the intention of reaching the screen of the festival.
«I am especially excited to premiere the film here in Tarazona. That was the objective. When we were filming that, people said it: ‘Guys, get your act together, this film has to be premiered in Tarazona'», explains Echeverría, who considers that the festival is the ideal setting to present a film of these characteristics: «It’s a comedy and I like to premiere the film at the best comedy festival in España«.
The filmmaker’s link with the festival dates back to 2009 and has been maintained during practically all its editions. The film, starring Cristina Gallego, Fele Martínez, Lluvia Rojo, Pepa Charro, William Miller, Laura Ramos, Jordi Aguilar, Zorion Eguileor and Rulo Pardo, follows Carlota, a separated woman and mother of a teenager who tries to put her life back together after a disappointment in love.
Everything changes when her friends give her a Taser weapon, triggering a chain of increasingly chaotic situations in a comedy that combines sentimental entanglements, friendships, crime and unexpected situations. «It is very fun, with a lot of rhythm, for all audiences who want to spend an hour and a half of excitement and fun. And you won’t get bored watching it,» says its director.
The production, which is based on a script by Juan Solo and is produced by Almática, was launched after Echeverría joined the project to take over the direction. The filmmaker highlights the work done with the artistic team, which he considers essential to carry out a comedy that was shot in just four weeks.
Echeverría acknowledges that comedy came to his career almost by chance. «Comedy bit me and I haven’t been able to get rid of it anymore,» jokes the director, who admits that even when he tackles projects that do not belong strictly to the genre he cannot avoid incorporating a touch of humor.
The premiere also has a special significance due to Echeverría’s link with Aragón, as it isthe only Aragonese representative of the new Official Section of Ibero-American Comedy Feature Films, whichin this first edition brings together productions from Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico. «Someone has to do it,» he says humorously when he learns of this circumstance.
The filmmaker is also confident in the response of the Turiasonense public, which he considers ready to face a comedy film: «The audience of Tarazona is a very smart audience and very skilled in comedy, because it has been many years of festival. They know a lot and want to have fun.»
Several members of the team of ‘El Taser’have travelled to Tarazona with Echeverría, such as Laura Ramos, Lluvia Rojo, Zorion Eguileor, Rulo Pardo and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, as performers; Juan Solo, screenwriter and actor; Sofía Jordán, production director; and Laura García, art director.
In addition, Laura Ramos, who is excited to be in Tarazona for the first time, feels «very expectant» with the reception and speaks of her character as a «very peculiar policewoman who gets involved to help her friends in tremendous trouble». On the other hand, Lluvia Rojo admits that this festival is «her favorite» and she always tries to come, while she adds that her character «is a proud mother of her children who is involved in a pretty strong mess». However, despite his appearance as a traditional person, «everything turns around and discovers where his real limits are».
With this screening, the new feature film section is now facing its final stretch. After the seven films programmed, the festival will complete the competition this Friday with ‘Nuda propiedad’, by Alberto Utrera.
BIANCA KOVACS BRINGS HER HUMOR TO THE OFF FESTIVAL
The comedy continues outside the theaters with Bianca Kovacs, who will arrive at the Teatro Bellas Artes at 00.30 with her show ‘A very legal Romanian’. The comedian, born in Romania and with Russian and Hungarian roots, builds a show in which she plays with cultural stereotypes and the differences between countries, languages and ways of understanding the world, also based on her own experiences.
Kovacs’ performance gives continuity to the festival’s commitment to expand the programme beyond cinema and bring live humour to other spaces in Tarazona, after the performance of David Puerto and before the arrival of Salva Reina, who will present ‘Prohibido echle cacahuetes al mono’ this Friday.
The theatre has also hosted the fifth session of the Official Short Film Section, which has brought together seven new proposals: ‘Sequidivú’, by Paula Román; ‘003’, by Daniel Chamorro; ‘Quinto primera’, by Fran Menchón; ‘Por las tetas de Lucía!’, by Paloma Mozo and Anna Carbonell; ‘Pinchu es así’, by Carmen Córdoba; ‘Como te ve una amiga’, by Jelen García and Andrea Hoyos, and ‘Glory Hole’, by Andoni Fernández.
Paula Román, director, screenwriter and producer, along with María José Mariscal and Mariano Venancio, actors of ‘Sequidivú’; Daniel Chamorro, director and actor, and Julen Clark, actor, from ‘003’; Helena Lanza, actress-voice of ‘Pinchu es así’; and Andoni Fernández, director, and Lander Otaola, actor, of ‘Glory Hole’.
With this session, 35 of the 44 short films selected from the 361 works received have already passed through the festival’s screen. The competitionwill close tomorrow, Friday, with the sixth and final session, whichwill complete the selection of works that opt for the recognitions of this edition.
The day also began this morning with the return to Tarazona of the Children’s Morning Program, which is bringing to different locations in the region a selection of short films made by Primary students of the CEIP Serrerías de Valencia within its Film Workshop.
After passing through Vierlas, Litago, Trasmoz and Añón de Moncayo, the program has arrived in Tarazona and will conclude tomorrow Friday in Grisel, focusing on cinema as an educational tool and on issues such as equality, coexistence, interculturality, emotional health, the environment or the protection of heritage.
For its part, the Teatro Bellas Artes has hosted this morning the live recording of ‘El Podcast de Pelocas’, hosted by Marta Tai. The space has allowed the public to learn first-hand about the work behind this format and to talk to professionals and artists who participate in the festival.
last session of short films and monologue by salva reina
The festival will face tomorrow, Friday, one of the most intense days of this XXIII edition. At 11.00 am, the Children’s Morning Program will arrive in Grisel to close its tour of the region.
In the afternoon, at 6:30 p.m., the Teatro Bellas Artes will host the sixth and final session of the Official Short Film Section, with ‘Inquilinos’, by Adrián Ordóñez; ‘Monte carlo 67’, by Rubén Guindo; ‘Condolenc-ias’, by Rubén Bautista; ‘Sopitas’, by Luis Larrodera -Aragonese representative of the day-; ‘Sota el sol’, by Marc Riba and Anna Solanas; ‘El revisor’, by Jandro, and ‘In memoriam’, by Teresa Bellón and César F. Calvillo.
At 10:00 p.m., the feature film competition will reach its last film with ‘Nuda propiedad’, directed by Alberto Utrera and starring Susana Abaitua, Maxi Iglesias, David Lorente, Pepe Viyuela and Paco Churruca.
And, in the early hours of the morning, at 00.30 am, the ‘Off Festival‘ will move to the Teatro Bellas Artes with Salva Reina and his show ‘Prohibido echle cacahuetes al mono’, in which the actor and comedian recovers his alter ego Chuki to combine current affairs, everyday situations, improvisation and audience participation.
Tickets are priced at 12 euros, or 9 euros for holders of the Culture Card, and are unnumbered. They can be purchased at the Municipal Office of Culture, in Plaza de España 9 bis, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and at the box office of the Teatro Bellas Artes from 11:00 p.m. on the same Friday.
TARAZONA, UNA CITA CONSOLIDADA CON LA COMEDIA
With the fifth session of short films already held and the feature film competition about to conclude, the XXIII Tarazona and El Moncayo Comedy Film Festival enters its last days with its sights already set on the Closing Gala on Saturday, August 22.
The closing day will include at 1:00 p.m. the meeting ‘A vermouth with… Luis Larrodera’, on the terrace of the El Itury Cafeteria, accompanied by the journalist Camino Ivars, and, from 7:00 p.m., the Closing Gala at the Bellas Artes Theater, where the short film made during the Filmmaking Workshop will be premiered and the awards of the Official Sections will be awarded.
The gala will also include tributes to Salva Reina and Toni Acosta, as Comedy Talents; Susana Abaitua, as Young Talent, and Mariona Terés, as Revelation Talent. The program will say goodbye in the evening with a great Closing Party at the Palacio de Eguarás, which will feature performances by The William Miller Band, Roberta Fauteck and DJ Easy Rider.
The event is also one of the qualifying festivals for the Goya Awards and the José María Forqué Awards for Best Short Film Film, and is also part of the qualifying festivals for the Fugaz Awards.
