FICX, 60 editions later, continues to maintain the curiosity and non-conformism of youth, with the conviction that the function of film festivals should be the (re)discovery of artists who have no guaranteed visibility for their work, becoming the place from which to contemplate the cinematic waves that are arriving and to provoke those that are yet to come.
As part of this relentless effort, Gijón/Xixón International Film Festival pays tribute in its 60th edition to the actress and director Elina Löwensohn (Bucharest, Romania, 1966), focusing on her as a key figure of North American indie cinema in the 1990s and highlighting a career marked by her active involvement in the projects of filmmakers capable of creating personal universes. The actress and director will be in Gijón/Xixón to share a selection of her work.
Löwensohn settled in New York at the age of 14 and it was in the Big Apple where she began her acting studies and her love of theatre. It was on stage that she was discovered by film director Hal Hartley (honoured in Gijón/Xixón in 2003), a fact that changed her life, as from that moment on she starred in a large part of his filmography.
With Hartley she shot reference titles of the US indie explosion in the 1990s, such as the short film Theory of Achievement (1991); and the extraordinary feature films Simple Men (1992); Amateur (1994) and Flirt (1995).
Löwensohn's first big screen appearances under Hartley's direction led her to star in Nadja (1994), a unique New York vampire film, now regarded as a cult film. Directed by Michael Almereyda and produced (and starring) by David Lynch, it earned her a nomination for Best Actress at that year's Film Independent Spirit Awards.
With her captivating presence and acting quality, Löwensohn became an underground idol and in those years she alternated films linked to American auteur cinema such as Julian Schnabel's Basquiat (1996), with appearances in such popular TV shows as Seinfeld (in the memorable episode The Gymnast, -1994-, co-written by Larry David) and big Hollywood productions such as Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993).
Her film career has also extended to Europe with her participation in films such as Philippe Grandrieux's Sombre (1998); Po-Chih Leong's The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998), where she shared the spotlight with Jude Law; Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement (2004); Bertrand Bonello's De la guerre (2008); Jessica Hausner's Lourdes (2009); or Abdellatif Kechiche's Black Venus (2010).
However, and going beyond the label of "indie film muse", Löwensohn has maintained a fruitful creative relationship with Bertrand Mandico, one of the most relevant and original creators in French cinema today. Together they have built a dreamlike, fascinating and completely hypnotic cinematic universe. This symbiosis crystallised in The Wild Boys, the first feature film in Mandico's filmography, recognised by French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma as the best film of 2017.
Moreover, Elina Löwensohn is not only the star of many of Mandico's films, but often co-writes them and has also directed the short films Odile dans la vallée (2017) or Rien ne sera plus comme avant (2022), which has just been screened at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival. The actress and filmmaker is currently working in theatre and tv, while finishing her third feature film with Mandico, Conan the Barbarian (a Conan with an all-female cast).
From her extensive filmography, FICX will offer a season celebrating the career of Elina Löwensohn, including, among others, the emblematic Simple Men and Amateur, both directed by Hal Hartley; the chilling Sombre, by Philippe Grandrieux; Suite Armoricaine by Pascale Breton (Awarded at Locarno in 2015); the explosive polar Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Let the Corpses Tan) by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, adapted from a novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette; or After Blue, her most recent collaboration with Mandico, also awarded at Locarno and Sitges Festivals. The season will also screen a programme with some of Mandico's and Löwensohn's short films, as well as Rien ne sera plus comme avant, her latest as a director.
- A generational figure of independent and underground cinema in the 90s, she reached wide audiences with films such as Schnabel's Basquiat and Spielberg's Schindler's List.
- The actress and filmmaker will visit Gijón/Xixón to present a selection of her work with directors such as Hal Hartley and Bertrand Mandico.
- About to celebrate its 60th edition, but with the same curiosity and eagerness for discovery as always, FICX will dive into Löwensohn's cinematography, focusing also on her work as a filmmaker.