The opening weekend of the Catalan Cinema Now! season opens with two acclaimed films that blur the distinctions between fiction and documentary. 

The season kicks off with Ainhoa Rodríguez’s acclaimed debut feature Mighty Flash (Destello bravío), first seen at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2021, and here receiving its UK / London premiere. Set in Extremadura, the region of Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread (Las Hurdes), the film provides an imaginative reflection on the structures of patriarchy featuring a non-professional cast from the Badajoz town of Puebla de la Reina. 

Co-produced by the legendary Luis Miñarro – one of the key figures in Catalan independent cinema – Innovations also provides the opportunity to hear from Miñarro, in a career interview, about his own work in Catalan cinema both as a director and producer. His production company, Eddie Saeta has supported films by Lisandro Alonso, Sergio Caballero, Isabel Coixet, Manuel de Oliveira, José Luis Guerín, Marc Recha, Albert Serra, Agustí Vila, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul offering a mode of linking Catalan filmmaking with a wider international tradition of work, celebrating an approach to filmmaking centred on risk and innovation.