Presentation

Fifteen years. That’s it. Two words. One and two.

Fifteen editions. Another way of saying it. Or of writing it. Once again, two words: one and two. It’s simple enough. You can type them on a computer, watching the black letters appear on the white screen, or write them by hand on a piece of paper, or print them in blue ink on a white catalogue like this. You can speak them out loud, one and two, or you can say them silently to yourself in your mind so nobody hears them. In any case, they will always be two words. But, whatever way you choose to put them, with the plural noun ‘years’ or the plural noun ‘editions’, out loud or whispered, the two words will sum up, almost absurdly, everything that has happened in the intervening timespan. Like an Aleph of time: in two words, fifteen years. In the lives of the peoples—yes, the people, no less—who have made all these editions possible, the fifteen years are much more than two words. One and two. They are, in fact, a single-minded time; an overwhelming time. How much life given over, how many minutes of affection not shared with loved ones: mothers, friends, daughters, sisters. How many weekends given over to watching films, organizing meetings, applying for rights, revising subtitles, sending messages, drafting texts or simply doing the accounts, and accounts, and more and more accounts. Five hundred euro more here, a thousand less there… And, naturally, how much time spent looking for funding or filling in forms and reports to secure it. So many people, keenly aware that their time is always short, always counted, committed to a project that little by little has grown, taken root, made connections, opened up new worlds, fostered friendships and improved—as those who dedicate so much effort to it hope— the lives of the people with whom they share a common space. In this case, an island. Two words. Untold life. Untold conviction. Untold commitment.

It is no mean feat for an independent cultural project, organized by a non-profit association and based in such a “remote” place, to manage to last over time and, even less so, to do it while not just surviving, but also growing, consolidating and expanding. A little more with each passing year.

Over these fifteen editions, the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote in conjunction with Tenique Cultural, the non-profit association that organizes it, have grown until turning many of their initiatives and activities into benchmarks of the cultural landscape of the Canary Islands, and even in the rest of Spain and internationally. This is no small achievement for a small island marked by that peculiar condition of its “double insularity,” a double distance.

All this effort has been worth it, now, fifteen years later, when we looking back and recall all the good moments. While, of course, forgetting all the bad ones. When we remember times of laughter, the screenings in which we learned so much, the new ideas that came about, the friendships that blossomed and the debates that helped us grow and to connect with people we had never met before. An effort that is also acknowledged when you realize the project’s countless collaborations with other organizations, institutions and cultural events, until they became part of its very identity. An effort that makes perfect sense when we realize that we have advanced, even if it is only a millimetre, towards a better understanding and greater respect for the place we inhabit.

The fifteenth Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote, which is now about to begin, has once again chosen a special subject matter as the core axis of its programme. A theme deeply rooted in the island’s cultural and human history. And like previous years, dedicated to volcanoes, salt, fishing, crises, migration and wind, this fifteenth edition focuses on an element that has shaped the lives and indeed the suffering of thousands of conejeros and conejeras over the course of the centuries: Water. This fascinating element, celebrated by poets throughout history, analysed in physics, chemistry and biology, and observed with wonder by anyone who sits and watches the rain whenever it falls, has a special bond with all living creatures on Lanzarote and, of course, the rest of the world.

Here, like few other places on the planet, water has been highly appreciated, and its absence, terrible during long periods of drought, has sparked human ingenuity to come up with a whole series of hydraulic infrastructures that deserve to be preserved and protected as unique cultural and insular heritage: alcogidas, maretas, nateros, gavias, aljibes…

Over the span of almost one month, and especially between the 20th and 30th of November, the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote will take place with a clear goal: to once again turn the spotlight onto the best of global culture so that the people of the island become more and more aware of the singularity of the place we inhabit; its particularities but also the things it shares with other places, and the qualities that make it unique and unrepeatable.

Over the next few weeks, Lanzarote will be taken over by the best films from around the world. The people who live here will have a chance to meet many of the directors behind these films and to take part in more than seventy activities aimed at all ages and hosted in all the island’s municipalities: guided hikes, workshops, courses, talks and encounters. One more year, one more edition, with our sights set on the present, on the here and now, to keep building the possibility of an ever better future.