Logroño is set to celebrate the tenth edition of the cuéntalo festival, this year titled 'cuéntalo de cine', running from Friday 6 to Saturday 14 November. Over nine days, the capital of La Rioja will host notable figures from literature, cinema, journalism, illustration, and the performing arts, focusing on the connections between words and images and the various ways of telling stories.
The festival will explore questions such as what happens when a story changes its language, what is preserved from the original work, and what new narrative possibilities arise from its transformation into images. This will be addressed through six discussions, two book presentations, three masterclasses, workshops, theatrical proposals, and performances suitable for all audiences.
Conversations and more
The six discussions will be a key feature of the festival, bringing together some of the most prominent voices in contemporary narrative, cinema, and criticism. The programme will kick off on Friday 6 November with Laura Ferrero and Estíbaliz Urresola, two creators born in 1984 who, alongside names like Alauda Ruiz de Azúa and Carla Simón, represent a generation of women playing a crucial role in contemporary Spanish cinema.
On Saturday 7 November, actor Pepe Zapata and filmmaker Álex Montoya will discuss their shared interest in recovering historical memory through different artistic languages, theatre and cinema. The meeting on Sunday 8 November will feature writers Brenda Navarro and Katixa Agirre, who have engaged in literary dialogue around themes such as motherhood, care, and artistic creation present in their respective works.
On Monday 9 November, the conversation will include five invited illustrators: Manuel Marsol, Manuel Romero, Nuria Díaz, Pep Brocal, and Javier Sáez Castán, who will share their experiences and reflections on graphic creation. The programme will continue on Thursday 12 November with a discussion between writer Gustavo Martín Garzo and filmmaker Laura Hojman, moderated by writer Elvira Valgañón. The final conversation will take place on Friday 13 November, featuring journalist and film critic Luis Martínez from El Mundo and writer Andrea Toribio.
Two book presentations will also be part of the festival. The Rafael Azcona Library will host the presentation of 'El cielo en casa' by Manuel Marsol on Tuesday 10 November, where he will converse with César Sánchez from the Fulgencio Pimentel publishing house. The Cerezo Bookstore will be the venue for the presentation of 'La comunidad imaginada. La invención masculina de la escritura de las mujeres' (Siglo XXI, 2026), the latest publication by Andrea Toribio, on Saturday 14 November.
Theatre and proposals for all audiences
This year's cuéntalo de cine will expand its literary programme with a series of theatrical proposals that will allow audiences to explore the origins of cinema, discover ancient projection systems, and delve into new forms of visual and sound narration. One such proposal is 'La Carpa de Francis', which will be set up at the Centre of Culture of La Rioja. This performance space is inspired by the travelling circus tents of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, recapturing the spirit of old fairground booths.
In this itinerant venue, two performances suitable for all audiences will be staged: 'El cinematógrafo' by the Asturian company Teatro del Cuervo, and 'Lanterne. La linterna mágica' by the Navarrese company Pájaros Pintados. Both proposals will offer several showings on different days and times. 'El cinematógrafo' invites the audience to step back to 1895, the era of the first cinematic projections by the Lumière brothers, while 'Lanterne. La linterna mágica' reveals the secrets of one of the precursor devices to the cinematograph, which projected images onto a surface.
On Saturday 14 November, the festival will present two more theatrical proposals. The first is 'Cine Maravillas. Ver para leer' by Raquel Queizás, which invites audiences to discover the magic of silent cinema through oral narration and the first cinematic adaptations of great literary classics. The theatrical programme will conclude with 'Debajo un telón' by the Aragonese company PAI Teatro, where a small theatre transforms into a music box that becomes a cinema for film projections.
The programme will also include an experimental and participatory sound creation proposal from the collective Chico Trópico, which will set up its mobile recording station 'La C.O.S.A.' (Centro Organizado de Sonido Ambulante) in María Teresa Hernández Square, the site of the former bus station. This initiative will connect with 'El pisito', the novel written by Logroño-born screenwriter Rafael Azcona in 1957, which was adapted into a film in 1958.
The festival will also feature theatre for adult audiences. On Saturday 7 November, the Catalan company Teatro de Dos, founded by actor and producer Pepe Zapata and director and playwright Gerard Vázquez, will present 'El enterrador'. This fictional work is based on a story heard on the radio about the experiences of various people during the Civil War and post-war period, including Leoncio Badía Navarro, known as 'the undertaker of Paterna'. In the production, Pepe Zapata plays a repressed republican sentenced to work in his village cemetery, where he must bury his own neighbours and friends.
Exhibition and illustrations
The Exhibition Hall of the Logroño City Council is currently hosting the exhibition 'Del diseño a la pantalla', dedicated to the work of graphic designer Pablo Buratti, one of Spain's leading storyboard professionals. The exhibition showcases a selection of works created over more than twenty years and provides insight into two fundamental disciplines in cinematic creation: storyboard and concept art, which play a crucial role in the visual construction of films.
Alongside this exhibition, cuéntalo de cine will revive one of its hallmark initiatives, featuring artistic interventions by illustrators in the windows of nine Logroño bookstores. This year, Manuel Marsol, Manuel Romero, Nuria Díaz, Pep Brocal, and Javier Sáez Castán will transform the windows of Casa del Libro, Librería Cerezo, Escala, Semilla Negra, Entrecomillas, Veo Veo, Santos Ochoa Calvo Sotelo, Castroviejo Libreros, and Santos Ochoa Gran Vía into showcases for illustration and artistic creation.
Workshops and masterclasses
The educational programme of cuéntalo de cine will include three masterclasses that delve into the processes of literary and cinematic creation led by three distinguished authors. Laura Ferrero, a writer, screenwriter, and journalist known for her collaborations with Isabel Coixet on various film projects, including the documentary 'El techo amarillo' and the film 'Un amor', will be one of the featured instructors. Estíbaliz Urresola, a Basque director, screenwriter, and producer who gained national and international recognition with her debut feature film '20.000 especies de abejas' (2023), will also participate. The third masterclass will be conducted by Brenda Navarro, a Mexican writer, editor, screenwriter, sociologist, and feminist economist, author of 'Ceniza en la boca' (2022), which was adapted into a film by Mexican actor and director Diego Luna.
Additionally, Valencian director, screenwriter, and producer Álex Montoya will lead a two-day workshop at the Centre of Culture of La Rioja. Montoya adapted Paco Roca's graphic novel 'La casa' into film in 2024, a work that received several accolades at the Málaga Film Festival, among others. Following this collaboration, both creators have reunited to work on the film adaptation of 'El abismo del olvido', the acclaimed graphic novel by Paco Roca and journalist Rodrigo Terrasa.
