Brain Film Fest
Brain Film Fest 2018
A festival of cinema about the brain
Audiovisuals
Free
The brain is the star of this new festival, which includes the 8th Solé Tura Award. The Brain Film Fest was devised to promote audiovisual creation on the subject of the brain and to highlight different aspects of it – from its amazing abilities to the diseases and conditions that threaten it.
Brain Film Fest represents the natural evolution of seven years of the Solé Tura Award, an initiative designed to encourage audiovisual creation on the subject and to raise awareness in society of people who suffer from illnesses of the brain. The festival was devised to be a meeting point that would help bring together the different actors and disciplines that deal with various aspects of the brain, and to promote debate on these areas. The programme features screenings of full-length and short films, as well as lectures and monographic workshops.
The inaugural film will be the US-made Monster in the Mind, a movie written, produced and directed by Jean Carper, the veteran CNN reporter who, at the age of 85, embarked on a journey on which he would face his fears in his search for anything that could help him ward off Alzheimer’s. The festival will include several screening sessions of some 20 short films, all selected from this year’s entries for the 8th Solé Tura Award.
The out of competition section will include screenings of several films, including Rocks in My Pockets by the Latvian Signe Baumane, an animated film for adults which tells the story of five women from the director’s family who are fighting depression and schizophrenia, and Can You Rebuild My Brain?, a British documentary directed by Stephen Finnigan with a screenplay by Lotje Sodderland, which explores the world of neurosurgery after Sodderland’s brain began to fail her at the age of 34. Also programmed is a special screening of George Sydney’s classic Bathing beauty, for people suffering from Alzheimer’s and their carers.
The festival will also include the workshops Neuro-marketing, led by Dr. María López, founder member and CEO of Bitbrain, and Neuro-cooking: feed your brain properly, headed by Dr. Miguel Sánchez Romera, a neurologist, professor of food science and technology and an artist in the kitchen. There will also be the talks The brain and memory: remembering and forgetting, personal identity, given by Dr. Luis Martínez, Doctor of Biology and an expert in neurobiology, and The brain in cinema, presented by the film critic Nuria Vidal.
Programme
Thursday 15th March
11.00 Auditorium | Screening of Bathing Beauty, George Sydney, 1944, 101')
Special screening for Alzheimer’s sufferers and their carers, organised by the CCCB Alzheimer’s Programme. The film’s structure makes it easy to follow for people suffering from Alzheimer’s, and the screening will be adapted to their needs so that both they and their carers can enjoy a trip to the cinema.
Free activity, by advance reservation at [email protected]
Friday 16th March
11.00 Hall | Using know-how and technology for people’s health
Debate for associations, affected families and professionals. Chaired by Dr Marta Aymerich, Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Research at the UOC.
12.00 Auditorium | Screening of short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
17.00 Hall | Screening of short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
19.00 Inaugural session, Hall | Screening of Monster in the Mind (United States, 2016, 87’, VOSE), a documentary written, produced and directed by Jean Carper. SPANISH PREMIERE
In a state of shock after discovering that he is at great risk of developing Alzheimer’s, the veteran CNN reporter Jean Carper sets out at the age of 85 on a journey to face his fears and to search for something – anything – that can help him ward off Alzheimer’s. He uncovers the disturbing story of an illness that is enveloped in mystery, marked with a great sense of doom and inevitability, and which recalls the most sensationalistic movies from the science fiction, horror and disaster genres.
Saturday 17th March
11.00 Hall | Neuro-marketing workshop
Chaired by Dr María López, founder member and CEO of Bitbrain, a company specialising in the development of neuro-technological solutions. She has worked as a researcher and a university teacher, and has won more than 20 international awards for her innovative work.
12.00 Auditorium | Screening of two short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
12.30 Hall | Talk: The brain and memory: remembering and forgetting, personal identity.
Led by Dr. Luis Miguel Martínez, Doctor of Biology and a specialist in neurobiology. At the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, the research centre of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, he promotes and coordinates the deployment of the new Memory Programme. He studies the fundamental principles that govern the structure and function of the neural circuits to find out how the brain makes decisions.
17.00 Hall
Out of competition screening of Rocks in My Pockets (Akmeni Manaas Kabataas, Latvia, 2014, 88’, VOSE ). Animated film. Written and directed by Signe Baumane.
A story of mystery and redemption, this animated film tells of five women from the director’s family who are fighting depression and schizophrenia. The film asks questions such as to what extent do family genes determine what we are? Is it possible for us to trick our DNA?
Discussion with Signe Baumane (by videoconferencing) after the screening
19.00 Hall | Out of competition screening of Can You Rebuild My Brain? (Britain, 2018, 47’, VOSE). Documentary directed by Stephen Finnigan. Screenplay by Lotje Sodderland. WORLD PREMIERE!
Lotje Sodderland’s brain began to fail her when she was 34 years old. Sometime later, in 2014, she directed the documentary My Beautiful Broken Brain, which won the Solé Tura Award. In this new film, Sodderland explores the world of neurosurgery in greater depth, with the help of specialists, to observe surgical procedures for treating Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and autism. She seeks to collaborate with people like her, people suffering from mental illness, to discover – with love and hope, but never morbid curiosity – whether surgery is the solution.
Discussion with Lotje Sodderland after the screening.
Sunday 18th March
11.00 Hall | Neuro-cooking: feeding your brain properly
Given by Dr. Miguel Sánchez Romera, neurologist, Professor of food science and technology, and chef.
12.00 Auditorium | Screening of short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
12.30 Hall | Talk, The brain and cinema: a perfect relationship.
Given by the film critic Nuria Vidal, a regular contributor to Time Out, Fotogramas and the BTV programme La Cartellera. She has written some 30 books on the cinema and has held different positions of responsibility at major film festivals.
17.00 Hall | Screening of short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
17.00 Auditorium | Screening of short films participating in the Brain Film Fest-Solé Tura Award + information
19.00 Hall | The prize-giving ceremony for the 8th Solé Tura Award
This activity is part of Brain Film Fest