WHAT’S THE STORY?

FLAMENCO, women and millennials are at the heart of this year’s Scottish Catalan Film Festival (SCAT18) – a 10-day feast of contemporary Iberian movies, poetry, gastronomy and concerts.

It runs from tomorrow until Monday in Glasgow and from November 13-18 in venues across Edinburgh. From small beginnings, the event has grown over the past three years and now has several major international collaborations.

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This year’s theme is “the right to be doubtful”, focussing on the humanising of the generation known as millennials – often dismissed as “superficial” and unable to build meaningful relationships.

The Edinburgh opening celebrates the long-standing and often overlooked relationship that Barcelona has with Flamenco and will feature the Scottish premiere of La Chana.

This award-winning documentary follows Barcelona-based flamenco gypsy legend “La Chana”, left, as she returns to give a final performance after a 30-year break.

A BIT OF CULTURE THEN?

A LOT of culture. Catalan women, who are leading the new wave of Catalan films (65% of films at this event have female directors), have been winning plaudits around the world for the naturalism and personality their creations exude.

SCAT18 festival programmer, Alberto Valverde, says the prominence of women is just the way it happened: “We picked our favourite films and it simply turns out that they are mostly directed by women. This is a new reality in Catalan cinema.

“I guess they’re doing something right. One of the first aims of the festival was to celebrate a network of things that are connected and works well. There are significantly more women in film schools it was only a matter of time before that would be translated into film direction. Many of the films are first works and that’s challenging, but it helps build a film industry structure that can take them to their second and third films.”

SCAT18 is also collaborating with Filmoteca de Catalunya to look at rare propaganda and documentaries made during the Spanish Civil War.

SO, A POLITICAL EVENT?

“LAST year’s event was more political but audiences fell as Catalans based in Scotland travelled back home to take part in the referendum,” Valverde says.

“This year, I’d say there’s more a celebration of solidarity. We have a much healthier dialogue and a mutual understanding between Spain and Catalonia and Catalonia and Scotland. The festival aims to debunk perceptions constructed in Scotland about Catalonia – particularly since last year’s events – showing a plural, rich and diverse nation.”