Las Palmas Film Festival Announces Centennial Silent Cinema Program and Ignacio Agüero Retrospective
The 25th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival will celebrate silent cinema through its Camera Obscura section while featuring a retrospective of Chilean filmmaker Ignacio Agüero and new works from acclaimed directors in its updated program.
The 25th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival has announced the highlights of its upcoming program, which will celebrate the centennial of several landmark silent films through its Camera Obscura section. This series aims to bridge the gap between silent cinema and modern sound, beginning on April 23 with a screening of F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926), featuring a live score by the Tenerife band GAF y La Estrella de la Muerte.
The Camera Obscura program goes beyond traditional screenings by incorporating the Japanese benshi tradition. Narrator Kataoka Ichirô will provide live commentary for the 1926 Japanese films A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa) and Serpent (Buntarô Futagawa). Pianist Cristóbal Montesdeoca has been commissioned to compose original scores for these films, as well as for Segundo de Chomón’s shorts Japanese Butterflies and Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais. The cycle also explores 1920s Paris through Alberto Cavalcanti’s Rien que les heures and Dimitri Kirsanoff’s Ménilmontant, both featuring new soundtracks by musician Jonay Armas.
The festival has also updated its Panorama and Banda Aparte sections. Panorama, a non-competitive showcase, will feature new work from acclaimed directors including Radu Jude (presenting Dracula), Lucrecia Martel, and Tsai Ming-liang. Meanwhile, Banda Aparte is shifting away from competition to focus on promoting experimental cinema.
A key feature of Banda Aparte will be a retrospective dedicated to Chilean filmmaker Ignacio Agüero. He will visit the festival to present a selection of his work, spanning from his 1977 debut Aquí se construye to his latest film, Cartas a mis padres muertos (2025). The retrospective also includes No olvidar, Cien años esperando un tren, Sueños de hielo, the 2000 version of Aquí se construye, and El otro día. This section is rounded out by Presente indómito, a curated program exploring the boundaries of contemporary audiovisual storytelling.