Check out the complete program of the Tabaca Film Fest, choose your favorite activities and book your tickets here.
FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER
Two panthers pulled the chariot of Dionysus, god of wine, on his journeys. We can’t think of a better beast to open the doors of the third edition of the Tabaca Film Fest.
And we’ll do it with another debut: it will also be the first evening that Celler de Bresca opens its doors to the general public. An inspiring project created to recover abandoned land and bring vineyards and olive groves back to life.
Cinema, mountain wine and olive oil in an exceptional setting, with breathtaking views and the Geganta Adormida presiding over the valley. A magical, one-of-a-kind night, with very limited capacity.
Price: €10 (everything included)
Where: Celler de Bresca
Booking required. Very limited capacity.
Please arrive 15 minutes in advance.
Car sharing is recommended. Parking available in front of the winery.
Warm clothing is also recommended, as some activities will take place outdoors.
La Dama Blanca – 29 min / Ficció / Direcció: David Haro i Gerard Navalón / Andorra / Català
El 1942, als boscos andorrans, ocupats per soldats nazis i maquis republicans, es produeixen misteriosos assassinats.
Spider Zan – 12 min / Ficció / Direcció: Maryam Khodabakahsh / Iran / Persa
Per a la seva cerimònia de proposta de matrimoni, la Negar necessita aconseguir un preuat objecte molt difícil d’aconseguir.
Close your eyes – 5 min / Ficció / Direcció: Gus St. Clair / Espanya / Anglès
Elliot, un nen de 9 anys, ha deixat de creure que hi hagi res màgic en el món que l’envolta.
Lavadoiro – 17 min / Documental / Direcció: Ana Amado i Lois Patiño / Espanya / Gallec
L´espai poètic del safareig públic gallec es mostra com a punt de cohesió entre dones.
La Valla – 14 min / Animació / Direcció: Sam Orti / Espanya
Una família emprèn un perillós exili més enllà de la civilització.
El Príncep – 29 min / Ficció / Direcció: Alex Sardà / Espanya / Català
L’Artur, fill d´una família burgesa i ballarí, es prepara per a la nit d’estrena del seu nou espectacle.
SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
The Minotaur awaits us at the centre of the labyrinth. And to reach it, we’ll venture deep into the Era d’Ortega in the beautiful enclosed village of Peramea, one of the most remarkable corners of the Baix Pallars, which will host a night of cinema, memory and music.
We’ll enjoy a session of Tabaca Film Fest finalist short films, culminating in the premiere of “Mite, càmera i acció”, a documentary that recovers myths, legends and oral memory from the Pallars Sobirà. Some of its protagonists will join us for this very special evening.
Afterwards, we’ll share some food and, as night falls, the powerful voices of the female trio Silvestres will perform a repertoire that recovers and reinterprets traditional songs.
Price: €10 (everything included)
Booking required. Very limited capacity.
Where: Era d’Ortega, Peramea
Warm clothing is recommended, as some activities will take place outdoors.
A Spot in the World – 25 min / Ficció / Direcció: Carlos Robisco / Espanya / Anglès
Enmig d´una crisi mental vinculada a una nova droga, Franklin Cloud torna al barri on es va criar.
Le Fétiche – 16 min / Videodansa / Direcció: Samuel Kouamé Mathurin / Costa d’Ivori / Francès
Un aspirant a ballarí demana un ninot a un amic perquè li porti sort.
Campolivar – 16 min / Documental experimental / Direcció: Alicia Moncholí / Espanya / Castellà
Retrat de la fracturada relació entre la directora i el seu pare.
The Horse – 15 min / Ficció / Direcció: Yi-Tzu Lan / Taiwan / Xinès
Mentre la Jing prepara una difícil mudança, apareix un cavall dins del pis.
Ixigoleta y Bordón – 30 min / Documental / Direcció: Sílvia Orós / Espanya / Castellà
Relació entre llengua, paisatge i música al Pirineu aragonès.
SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
Four sessions named after beasts and films for all ages: children, young people and adults. You can come to one, two… or all four.
There will be prize draws and surprises, and you’ll be able to vote for your favourite shorts and help decide the Tabaca Film Fest Audience Award.
The Cucafera, one of the most festive and lovable creatures in our traditional bestiary, will open this Sunday of cinema.
A session specially designed for the youngest members of the family —and, of course, for the adults who want to join them— with a selection of short films to discover creatures, fantastic worlds and surprising stories through cinema.
And pay attention, because before they leave, our youngest spectators will receive a very sweet surprise.
Free session.
Booking recommended.
Where: Cinema Els Til·lers, Sort
Ages 7+
Apropa Cultura partner activity
What’s one of the best plans for a Sunday morning in Sort? A classic morning at the cinema.
The Urco, the mysterious black dog of Galician folklore, invites us to a session where extraordinary powers, stories shaped by war, worlds that not everyone can see and distant childhood memories will coexist. Creatures, memory, reality and fantasy come together in a new selection of Tabaca Film Fest finalist short films.
And afterwards? You’ll still have the whole Sunday ahead of you, but you’ll already have travelled to distant lands and times.
Free session.
Booking recommended.
Where: Cinema Els Til·lers, Sort
A preview of a selection of short films that the Tabaca Film Fest will share with local secondary schools the following week.
Vibrant stories about change, identity, transformation, fears and new ways of seeing the world, inspired by the Phoenix, that extraordinary bird that dies and is reborn from its own ashes.
Free session.
Booking recommended.
Where: Cinema Els Til·lers, Sort
Apropa Cultura partner activity
We’ll finish our Sunday of cinema with a big beast.
The Tarasque, a legendary creature from French tradition, half animal, half monster and difficult to tame, will lead us to one of the most acclaimed French fantasy films of recent years: Le Règne animal, by Thomas Cailley.
A father and son embark on an adventure about metamorphosis, nature and the beast that perhaps lives inside all of us. A fantastic, wild and deeply human fable to bring a full day of cinema in Sort to a close.
Presented at the Cannes Film Festival, the film received 12 César Award nominations and won 5, including cinematography, original music and visual effects.
Free session.
Booking recommended.
Original version with Catalan subtitles.
Where: Cinema Els Til·lers, Sort
Apropa Cultura partner activity
THURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
For four days, the Reial Alfolí in Gerri de la Sal will become Tabaca territory: cinema, culture and wild beasts.
The journey will begin with the official opening ceremony of the third edition of the Tabaca Film Fest, followed by a new session of finalist short films. But we won’t be alone: mysterious characters will accompany us throughout the evening and, in their own way, make sure we reach our destination. Pack your bags.
Afterwards, we’ll share a wild welcome dinner inspired by the most ancestral flavours of the Pallars, created by Jaume Mora, renowned chef at Fonda Farré in Baro, one of the benchmark establishments for local Pallars cuisine.
And when it seems the night is coming to an end, Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld, will open one final door…
Price: €15 (everything included)
Booking required. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Warm clothing is recommended, as some activities will take place outdoors.
Pietra – 12 min / Animació / Direcció: Zynthia Levitan / Brasil, Lituània, Polònia i Portugal
Dues veïnes d´un clàssic barri portuguès es troben arran d’un conflicte, des de llocs aparentment molt diferents.
Nit de Reis – 5 min / Ficció / Direcció: Teo Nicolau / Espanya / Català
És la nit de Reis i hi ha qui té més ganes de sortir de festa que de treballar.
Felina – 12 min / Animació / Direcció: María Lorenzo Hernández / Espanya
Felina és la història de dos éssers que amaguen una sorprenent veritat.
Ese lugar partío – 8 min / Experimental / Direcció: Inés Pintor Sierra / Espanya / Castellà
Marcos i Mateo creixen junts fins que la construcció d´una autopista divideix el poble en dos.
Plora aquí – 8 min / Ficció / Direcció: Pablo Maestres / Espanya / Català
Snif és un monstre que viu a la natura i que accidentalment coneix a una família.
El fin del mundo – 14 min / Ficció / Direcció: Alessandro Mosca / Perú / Castellà
Un nen s’ha perdut a la muntanya i busca el camí de tornada a casa.
Els Simiots – 30 min / Documental / Direcció: Jordi Busquets / Espanya / Català
A través de testimonis locals, el documental explora la llegenda dels homes salvatges dels Pirineus, especialment a la zona d’Arles.
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER
Artemia is a tiny crustacean from an ancient lineage, capable of living where almost nothing else can: in water with extremely high salt concentrations. The perfect guide to discovering one of Gerri’s greatest treasures.
We’ll visit the Museu de la Sal and the Reial Alfolí, an emblematic building that over the centuries has served as a salt warehouse, school, theatre and shared community space. We’ll discover Gerri’s salt-making history and celebrate a small but remarkable achievement: this year, traditional salt production has returned, thanks to the effort and commitment of an entire village.
Free activity.
Booking required. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Half horse, half impossible creature, the Alicorni will invite us to leave the known world behind for a while.
One of the festival’s most dreamlike and hypnotic sessions, with short films that will take us towards strange, intimate and unexpected territories. Cinema to surrender to, to look a little further and perhaps reach places we didn’t know existed.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
Dragons, griffins, impossible beasts and creatures born from human imagination since time immemorial. If this year we’ve decided to fill the Tabaca with beasts, we couldn’t have found anyone better than Joan de Déu Prats to help us understand where they come from and what they tell us.
A writer and great expert on fantastic and legendary imagination, he will invite us to explore the universe of mythological animals, their stories, their symbols and everything that humans have projected onto them.
An opportunity to go a little beyond the myth and discover what lies behind the beast.
Free activity, no booking required.
Recommended for adults.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
The Aatxe, a spirit from Basque mythology that takes the form of a red bull, appears at night and inhabits caves and hidden places. This session will also take us into uncomfortable territory.
Dystopias, desires, unsettling futures and realities that sometimes feel like fiction. A selection of short films that will hold up a mirror to us and invite us to ask where we are going, and what remains of us along the way.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
The Sphinx posed riddles to travellers. We’ll answer with pencils, imagination and a deck of cards yet to be invented.
Jesús Rosan, artist and long-time accomplice of the Tabaca, will invite us to create our own Tarot cards inspired by animals, symbols and elements from the Pyrenees. Tarot as a tool for exploration and self-knowledge, but also as a space for play and creation.
What would a Tarot deck born in the Pyrenees look like? Come and draw a card —and, above all, start thinking about the question you’ll ask it.
Free outdoor activity. Ages 7+.
Booking recommended. Limited places.
Where: Xiringuito de la Sal · Gerri de la Sal
Activity co-organised by the Parc Natural de l’Alt Pirineu
Apropa Cultura partner activity
Half woman, half dragon, the Víbria is one of the fiercest creatures in our imagination. And the last film session of the day certainly won’t be here to tickle us.
Poetry, wounds, rage, desire and revenge come together in a selection of short films that will bring us closer to stories shaped by conflict and characters who refuse to bow their heads. An intense session that will not leave us indifferent.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Arnau Obiols comes to the Tabaca Film Fest with “Ocelltambor”, his latest work: a sonic universe born from attentive listening to nature, mountains and silence. Voice, percussion, flabiol, electronics and sounds collected from the landscape meet in music that is free, ancestral and utterly personal.
An invitation to listen differently. To close your eyes and enter the forest. And who knows? Perhaps, somewhere between sound and silence, we’ll discover one of the most emblematic and mysterious creatures of the Pyrenean forests: the capercaillie.
Free activity, no booking required.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
What lies beneath the waters of a lake? Scottish legends say that Kelpies, mysterious water horses, inhabit the depths of their lochs and fjords. Montcortès has plenty of theories of its own…
We’ll begin by discovering, together with an expert from Geoparc Orígens, the geological features of this exceptional lake and the landscape around it. We’ll continue with Gratitud Pallars to learn about the micro-reserves they are developing in the area, discover what regenerative tourism means and ask ourselves what we can do to leave a slightly better footprint on the world.
An outing to walk, observe, learn and look at Estany de Montcortès with new eyes.
Free activity. Ages 8+.
Booking required. Very limited places.
Meeting point: Estany de Montcortès car park (junction with the Peracalç track).
Suitable footwear and clothing, water, a hat and sun protection are recommended.
The Basilisk, a fantastic creature with the body of a reptile and a gaze capable of killing, will lead us through a session of transformations.
Growing up, changing, discovering who we are and learning to live with everything we gradually leave behind. A selection of short films about moments of transition, with all their light, discovery and, sometimes, their wounds too.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
The Qilin is a creature from Chinese mythology associated with kindness, prosperity and the arrival of fertile times. This morning it will help us discover the ancestral seeds of the Pallars Sobirà, and the strategies that allow something so tiny to begin a new life.
With biologist Helena Barril, we’ll create our own Seed-Character using a variety of materials. Nature never stops surprising us —and neither does our creativity!
Free outdoor activity. Ages 5+.
Booking recommended. Limited places.
Where: Xiringuito de la Sal, Gerri de la Sal
Activity co-organised by the Parc Natural de l’Alt Pirineu
With the collaboration of Esboïga (Associació de varietats locals de l’Alt Pirineu)
Apropa Cultura partner activity
Since its birth, cinema has never stopped asking big questions. About who we are, where we come from, the origin of life, what is real and what might exist beyond what we are capable of seeing.
For thousands of years, humanity looked for answers in myths. Then science arrived, and the two paths separated. But perhaps today, as quantum physics offers new answers, science and myth are not as far apart as we might think.
Javier Urrutia, professor of aesthetics and film expert; Sebastián Grinschpun, physicist and science communicator specialising in the physics of the Universe; and Blanca Pujals, architect and researcher into scientific infrastructures, will discuss how cinema has represented all these questions. We’ll revisit major films and filmmakers who have dared to look in this direction: other realities, the limits of perception, the Universe and everything that still escapes us.
A little cinema, a little quantum physics, a little myth and, probably, a certain dose of cosmic vertigo.
To guide us, Gerió, the three-bodied giant of Greek mythology who, while pursuing Pyrene, gave rise to the Pyrenees. Or so the legend says.
Free activity, no booking required.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
In the afternoon, the Panarrat (bat in Pallarese), a creature of the night traditionally associated with superstition and fear, will take us towards the darker corners of the imagination, with stories about visceral hatred, ancestral recipes and forced exile.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
Throughout history and across many cultures, the scarab has been used as an amulet of protection and regeneration. At the Tabaca, we invite you to discover the amulets of our own folk tradition.
With Natàlia Saldaña, a great expert in the ancestral uses of plants, we’ll explore herbs from our surroundings traditionally used to ward off witches, evil spirits and misfortune. We’ll learn how amulets, potions and other preparations were made to purify and protect the home and its inhabitants.
A little botany, a little folk wisdom and, just in case, a little protection.
Free outdoor activity for adults. You may come accompanied by children aged 6+.
Booking recommended. Limited places.
Where: Xiringuito de la Sal · Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
Can you find love in the mountains? Can you go out partying and end up seeing the light? What are we willing to do to be free? How far will we go to pursue our dreams?
The Mulassa will take us through a session full of characters who search, desire, fight, make mistakes and keep moving forward. Stories of life, inheritance, freedom and mountains, with protagonists who, each in their own way, are trying to find their place in the world.
Price: €3
Booking recommended. Limited capacity.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
They say griffins, half lion and half eagle, guarded the most precious treasures. This will be the moment to discover who will take home the awards from the third edition of the Tabaca Film Fest.
We’ll reveal the jury prizes, announce the Audience Award that you will have helped decide throughout the festival, and welcome filmmakers and some very special guests. There will be prize draws, gifts and a few more surprises.
And all of this with Esperanceta de Casa Gassia as our mistress of ceremonies. From this point on, we can’t guarantee much. Only that she’ll take us wherever she wants.
Free activity.
Booking recommended. Limited places.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
The Mantícora is an impossible beast. A mixture of creatures that, against all odds, somehow works.
After the awards, the formalities are over.
Las Duras return to the Tabaca and PdPijas make their official debut. Two generations, two universes and a single dance floor.
The final night of the Tabaca cannot be explained. It has to be danced.
Free activity, no booking required.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí · Gerri de la Sal
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
Much has been said about witches. But few people have studied them as deeply as Pau Castell.
A medieval historian born in Tremp, professor at the Universitat de Barcelona and one of the leading experts on witch-hunting in Catalonia, he has spent years tracing archives and court proceedings to reconstruct a history that was particularly intense in the Pyrenees.
And the Pallars occupies a surprising place in this story: did you know that the earliest known European legislation against the crime of witchcraft, dating from 1424, originated in the Valls d’Àneu?
At the Tabaca, Pau Castell will introduce us to little-known cases of Pyrenean witchcraft, some of them originating in the Baix Pallars itself. Accused women, trials, fears, beliefs and persecutions that took place much closer to us than we might imagine.
The Striga, that nocturnal female figure that has crossed the European imagination for centuries, will inevitably hover over the room.
Free activity, no booking required.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí, Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
Japanese legend says that the Baku, another hybrid beast, devours nightmares. This afternoon, it will have plenty of work to do.
After moving us last year with “Un poble sota les aigües”, Cooperativa Alba Jussà returns to the Tabaca with a proposal that is difficult to classify: theatre and cinema coexist on the same stage, with more than twenty performers and an absolutely overflowing imagination.
“Somnis perversos”, directed by Eduard Muntada, will introduce us to the mischief of the minairons, the wrath of Zeus and the unsettling Charon through a theatre piece that includes three short films created by the performers themselves.
Myth, cinema, theatre, humour and creativity in their purest form. One of the most singular proposals of this edition, and the best possible way to bring it to a close.
Free activity, no booking required.
Limited capacity. Free entry, first come, first served.
Where: Reial Alfolí, Gerri de la Sal
Apropa Cultura partner activity
And between one film and the next… SUPO-SUPO
The cinema room at the Reial Alfolí will be flanked by two spaces where the imagination —and the conversation— can continue beyond the screen.
At the entrance, you’ll be able to visit “Protegiu-nos de tot mal”, Jordi Borràs’s magnificent exhibition, a visual journey through beliefs, rituals and forms of protection that still survive in our territory.
And at the exit, you’ll find SUPO-SUPO.
In Pallarese, fer supo-supo means to meet by chance, to unexpectedly cross paths.
At the Tabaca Film Fest, SUPO-SUPO will be an informal meeting space to chat, browse, discover and be surprised. There will be a small selection of local products and crafts, a beer bar, merchandise, a reading area… You’ll also find the audience voting table and other little things that will be happening along the way.
Because the festival continues when the lights come back on in the cinema: in the conversations, the coincidences and the encounters.