Cines del Sur lights up its opening night with the premiere of the documentary Para Vivir. El Implacable tiempo de Pablo Milanés

It will take place on Friday, July 17, at 9:00 PM at the Teatro del Generalife, at the foot of the Alhambra. During the gala, the Alhambra Honorary Award will be presented to renowned Japanese director Naomi Kawase.‍

The Cines del Sur International Festival, held in Granada from July 17 to 24, kicks off its twelfth edition with a welcome gala featuring the premiere and screening of "Para Vivir. El implacable tiempo de Pablo Milanés" by Fabien Pisani. The event will take place on Friday, July 17, at 9:00 PM at the beautiful Teatro del Generalife, at the foot of the Alhambra. The gala will be hosted by Nerea Cordero and Paco Pascual and will feature a musical performance by Javier Ruibal prior to the opening screening. During the gala, the festival will present the Alhambra Honorary Award to renowned Japanese director Naomi Kawase, a special guest and jury member. The filmmaker, celebrated for an intimate poetics that masterfully observes time, fragility, and silence, will receive this major recognition as a prelude to the retrospective the festival is dedicating to her work. The gala will be held in a unique and iconic setting, made possible through the collaboration of the Patronato de la Alhambra.

The film opening the festival, "Para Vivir. El implacable tiempo de Pablo Milanés" by Fabien Pisani, is a journey through the life and songs of the Cuban singer-songwriter, structured as an honest dialogue between a father and his son, where memory becomes a living territory and art a form of resistance.

Through the life and songs of Pablo Milanés, the film unfolds as an intimate journey that resonates far beyond the personal. It is a long path that traverses political upheavals, moments of euphoria, and disillusionment, ultimately reflecting an entire generation that dared—and allowed itself—to imagine that the world could be different.

But this is not simply a biographical portrait. The film is constructed as a close and honest dialogue between a father and his son, where affection, emotional heritage, and the need for understanding are at the heart of the story. In this process of looking back, the son not only reconstructs his father's history but also begins to recognize himself within it, discovering the roots of his own identity. Thus, the film becomes something broader: a story about art as a form of resistance, about the bonds that span generations, and about memory as a living territory. The documentary combines interviews with music figures such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Chico Buarque, Harry Belafonte, and Fito Páez.

*attendance at the gala is by invitation only, subject to capacity

FABIEN PISANI

Director, producer, and cultural manager born in Havana in 1971. A graduate of the Guadalajara Talent Campus and the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in Oaxaca. In 2011, he developed and produced the Franco-Spanish feature film "7 Days in Havana," which premiered the following year in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. With his debut feature, "En la caliente: cuentos de un guerrero del reguetón" (2024), he won several international awards: the Gabo Award for journalistic excellence, the Lobo Marino for Best Documentary at the Punta del Este International Film Festival (Uruguay), Best Documentary at the Nvision Latino Film & Music Festival (Palm Springs, USA), and Best Direction and Sound at the Ceará International Film Festival (Brazil). In 2025, he premiered "Para Vivir. El implacable tiempo de Pablo Milanés" at Sheffield DocFest (UK).

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PABLO MILANÉS WITH FABIEN PISANI, NANCY PÉREZ, AND CACO SENANTE | Saturday, July 18 | 12:00 PM | Teatro Isabel La Católica

On Saturday, July 18, at 12:00 PM at the Teatro Isabel La Católica, director Fabien Pisani will host a session within the Mosaico space, featuring a conversation about the figure of Pablo Milanés, with the participation of Nancy Pérez and the popular singer-songwriter Caco Senante. This free, open-access event continues the discussion, one day after the opening gala, regarding the life, music, and legacy of the Cuban singer-songwriter. Memory, art, and resistance: the same threads that run through the film, now shared with those who knew Milanés closely.

PABLO MILANÉS TRIBUTE CONCERT | Saturday, July 18 | 8:30 PM | Centro Federico García Lorca

On the evening of Saturday, July 18, the Centro Federico García Lorca will host a tribute concert for Pablo Milanés, featuring performances by Miguel Núñez and Lynn Milanés, the singer-songwriter's daughter, accompanied by the renowned voice of Caco Senante. The concert will feature a live performance of a songbook that has crossed generations and borders, during the same week that the festival premiered "Para Vivir. El implacable tiempo de Pablo Milanés" at the opening gala—the documentary his son Fabien Pisani dedicated to his life. Music and shared memory for those who grew up singing his songs and for those discovering them for the first time now.

OTHER SCREENINGS

On Saturday the 18th, "Montages of a Modern Motherhood" by Oliver Chan will also be screened at 5:00 PM at the Centro Federico García Lorca. The film opens the Lost Treasures section with an in-person presentation. Focusing on the experience of motherhood and its complexities, the film portrays the difficulties of balancing parenting with professional life, especially for women in a Hong Kong society that remains markedly Confucian and patriarchal.

At 6:00 PM at the Teatro Isabel La Católica, you can see "La Reserva," the feature film debut of Pablo Pérez Lombardini. The film begins its run in the Official Selection. While the inhabitants of Monte Virgen are busy with the coffee harvest, park ranger Julia discovers that the Reserve is being destroyed by illegal loggers and decides to face an increasingly violent enemy alone, determined not to lose the only thing she has left: her dignity.

And at 8:00 PM at the Teatro Isabel La Católica, "Funky Freaky Freaks" by Han Chang-lok will be shown, premiering in the Official Selection with a presentation and subsequent Q&A with the director. In a small Korean town where urban renewal seems frozen in time, three high school friends deal with the obsessions that define their days, until the arrival of an attractive influencer student breaks the fragile balance between them.

*the festival is made possible thanks to the support of the Granada City Council, the Regional Government of Andalusia, the Granada Provincial Council, and the collaboration of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, the University of Granada, and the Patronato de la Alhambra, among other entities.

*screenings will take place in iconic venues such as the Teatro del Generalife (Opening), Teatro Isabel La Católica (Closing), Centro Federico García Lorca, Corral del Carbón, Plaza de las Pasiegas, and the Palacio de los Condes de Gabia.

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