The London Film Festival is over and the autumn sun is beginning to chill the British streets so my thoughts turn to warmer climes and sunnier days. So what better solution than a trip to Mallorca for the Evolution Mallorca Film Festival which is now in its 5th year? I love Mallorca and have wonderful memories of orange groves and perfect blue skies and inventive local cooking.
This will be my first visit to the festival which was created by Sandra Selling Lipski who has a most impressive CV in the film industry. She is German of origin but spent her formative years in Mallorca before heading off to New York where she studied at the world renowned Lee Strasberg Theatre School and then on to Los Angeles to develop her film making career at the Los Angeles Film School. It was there that she studied to be a producer and a director.
Ms Sandra Seeling Lipski
With this very special combination of talents and knowledge behind her, Sandra Lipski dreamt of bringing a professional film festival to her beloved island of Mallorca. When I talked with her she explained that although others had tried before to launch a festival in Mallorca, they had been hurried ventures. “I realised that creating a festival would take time” she explained, “it had to be built steadily over a period of years to gain credibility and an identity”. Sandra Lipski told me that the growth from 2015 to 2016 has been “extraordinary” and will present 17 narrative feature films, 6 documentaries and 18 short films over a 9 day period and also host several special events including a festival tribute award to Danny DeVito and the screening of his film ‘War of the Roses’. The festival is also unique in that it will feature a Drive-in cinema at Port Adriano which according to Ms Lipski is a world first in the festival circuit. “Some festivals have outdoor screenings” she says “but the Mallorca festival has drive-in with the soundtrack powered via the local radio station.” This indicates just how well the festival organisation has integrated itself into the local cultural landscape and how seriously Ms Lipski’s project is viewed by the media. Films will be presented at excellent venues around Palma which will ensure a strong take-up by local film enthusiasts as well as international visitors.
Her German cultural roots are visited in the spotlight screening of ‘A Heavy Heart’ (Winner for Best Actor in a leading role at 2015 German Film Awards) and the cult film ‘Wild’ which I just saw at the London Festival and found to be a devastating piece of modern cinema. With quality screenings like this and the promise of fine autumn weather it is not surprising that the Evolution Mallorca Intl Film Festival (EMIFF) is one of the fastest growing and most exciting festivals in the Mediterranean.