23/01/2024 - The daring Spanish director returns to the Dutch festival with, in his own words, "a ghostly sitcom of mirrors and mirages”

The Rim [+see also:
film review
film profile], directed and written by Alberto Gracia, will screen at the Tiger Competition of the IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam) (25 January – 4 February). The film tells the story of Damián, who takes part in a television contest where they reward literalness, which is why he has his name on his shirt. When the show cuts to commercials, the story begins: once upon a time, there was a middle-aged man living precariously in a big city. When he receives the news that his father has died, he has to return to his hometown Ferrol. After more than twenty years away, this Galician city has become an all-engulfing ruin.

In the words of the director, "this is a film of mirrors and mirages, of images that reveal what is missing and of faults that reflect an image. A film where the greatest mirror of all is the word, in a mediatized world that has lost the ability to imagine. The protagonist's life resembles a ghostly sitcom where the hours have lost their clock," he concludes. The main actors include Alfonso Míguez, Pilar Soto, Lorena Iglesias and Emilio Buale.

Alberto Gracia (Ferrol, 1978) has made two short films and two feature films before this one. His first work, shot in 2008 and in 16mm, was Microfugas and in 2013 he premiered his first and surprising film The Fifth Gospel of Kaspar Hauser [+see also:
film review
film profile] also at the IFFR, in the Bright Future section, with which he won the FIPRESCI award.

In 2018 he presented his second film, also at the IFFR and in the Bright Future section, entitled Wandering Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Gracia
film profile], winning the Deluxe New Waves Award at the Seville European Film Festival and Best Film at the Dock of the Bay Festival in San Sebastian. Thanks to the X-Films award (read more) won at the Punto de Vista 2020 Festival, the following year he made Tengan cuidado ahí fuera, his second short film and Special Jury Mention at Filmadrid.

The Rim is produced by Filmika Galaika and Tasio, and is distributed and sold internationally by Begin Again Films. 

Here is the exclusive poster:

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)