‘The Belly of the Sea’ by Agustí Villaronga, chosen to participate in the 34th European Film Awards

The European Film Academy has selected The belly of the sea, a film by Agustí Villaronga, for the 34th European Film Awards (European Film Awards).

The film, a production of Javier Pérez Santana (Testament), Cesc Mulet (La perifèrica Produccions) y of the movie, in co-production with Turkana Films, Link-up Barcelona y Bastera Films, will find out if it is a finalist for the trophies on November 9, during the Seville European Film Festival. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin next December 11.

The belly of the sea reaches the European Film Awards after triumphing in Official Section of the last 24th edition of the Malaga Film Festival with six awards: Golden Biznaga for Best Film, Silver Biznaga for Best Direction (Agustí Villaronga), Silver Biznaga for Best Male Performance (Roger Casamajor), Silver Biznaga for Best Screenplay (Agustí Villaronga and Alessandro Baricco), Silver Biznaga for Best Music (Marcús J.G.R) and Silver Biznaga for Best Photography (José María Civit and Blai Tomas). Last April, Villaronga's work also received the The Russian Film Critics’ Award in it 43 Moscow International Film Festival.

Based on real events

Inspired by a text by Alessandro Baricco, The belly of the sea It is based on a real event. After the shipwreck of a ship, 147 men try to survive, confined on a raft adrift in the middle of the sea. This shipwreck was immortalized by Théodore Géricault in the famous canvas The Raft of the Medusa, preserved in the Louvre Museum. The Italian writer Alessandro Baricco narrates these events in the novel Ocean Sea, concentrated in a chapter titled 'The Belly of the Sea'. Of those 147 men, only nine managed to save their lives. Among them were Savigny (Roger Casamajor), a ruthless medical officer, and Thomas (Oscar Kapoya), a rebellious private sailor. Confronted, they live these events showing different attitudes to survive.

The filming of The belly of the sea took place entirely on the island of Mallorca in August 2020. The film features the participation of TV3 e IB3, the support of ICEC and financing from the Government of Spain (ICAA), in addition to the sponsorship of the Fundació Mallorca Turisme, the Mallorca Film Commission and the Institut Ramón Llull. Paco Poch Cinema has been in charge of international advice.

Selected first films

The European Film Academy has revealed half of the films selected to participate in the European Film Awards. A total of 40 films have been unveiled; the rest of the selection will be shared in September.

The selected films have been 200 meters, de Ameen Nayfeh (Israel, Italia, Suecia); Ammonite, de Francis Lee (Reino Unido); And Tomorrow The Entire World, de Julia von Heinz (Alemania); Apples, de Christos Nikou (Grecia, Polonia, Eslovenia); Assandira, de Salvatore Mereu (Italia); Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, de Radu Jude (Rumanía, Luxemburgo, República Checa, Croacia); Beginning, de Dea Kulumbegashvili (Francia, Georgia); Brother’s Keeper, de Ferit Karahan (Turquía, Rumanía); Conference, de Ivan Tverdovskiy (Rusia, Estonia, Reino Unido, Italia); Dear Comrades!, de Andrei Konchalovsky (Rusia); Fabian – Going to the Dogs, de Dominik Graf (Alemania); Forest – I see you everywhere, de Bence Fliegauf (Hungría); Gaza Mon Amour, de Arab Nasser y Tarzan Nasser (Francia, Alemania, Portugal, Palestina); Hammamet, de Gianni Amelio (Italia); Here We Are, de Nir Bergman (Israel, Italia); y Hive, de Blerta Basholli (Kosovo, Suiza, Macedonia del Norte, Albania).

La lista se completa con I’m your man, de Maria Scharder (Alemania); Luzzu, de Alex Camilleri (Malta); Natural Light, de Dénes Nagy (Hungría, Alemania, Letonia, Francia); Never Gonna Show Again, de Malgorzata Szumowska y Michal Englert (Polonia, Alemania); Night of the Kings, de Philippe Lacôte (Francia, Costa de Marfil, Canadá, Senegal); Nowhere Special, de Uberto Pasolini (Italia, Rumanía, Reino Unido); Oasis, de Ivan Ikic (Serbia, Eslovenia, Países Bajos, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Francia); Petite Maman, de Céline Sciamma (Francia); Pleasure, by Ninja Thyberg (Sweden, France, Netherlands); Preparations To Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, but Lili Horváth (Hungary); Promising Young Woman, by Emerald Fennell (United States); Where are you going, Aida??, by Jasmilla Žbanic (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, Netherlands, France, Poland, Norway, Germany, Romania, Turkey); Riders of Justice, by Anders Thomas Jensen (Denmark, Sweden); Supernova, by Harry Macqueen (United Kingdom); The Dig, by Simon Stone (United Kingdom); The Fam, by Fred Baillif (Switzerland); The Father, by Florian Zeller (United Kingdom, France); The Girl and the Spider, by Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher (Suiza); The Macaluso Sisters, by Emma Dante (Italy); The Mauritanian, by Kevin Macdonald (United Kingdom, United States, South Africa); The Whaler Boy, by Philipp Yuryev (Russia, Poland, Belgium); Tove, by Zaida Bergroth (Finland, Sweden); and What do We See When We Look at the Sky, by Alexandre Koberidze (Germany, Georgia).