The APCP bids farewell to an essential ally: a brave programmer, a visionary director, and one of the first to build bridges between cinema and advertising production
The Spanish audiovisual sector is dismayed by news that is difficult to write: José Luis Cienfuegos, director of Seminci and one of the key figures in the transformation of film festivals in our country, passed away on December 2nd. For the APCP, his loss is also deeply personal. José Luis was one of those allies who arrive before anyone understands that they are one. Between 2011 and 2014, when directing festivals meant choosing safe paths, he decided to do the opposite: open the doors of auteur cinema to advertising cinema, accompany our first steps in Seville, and bet on a dialogue that then seemed improbable. His intuition —mixing the modern with the traditional, the indie with the industrial, the avant-garde with the commercial— not only anticipated a new way of looking at the audiovisual world: it demonstrated that both worlds could walk together without losing identity.
His career explains everything. From Gijón, where he turned the festival into a window for the planet’s most daring auteurs, to Seville, where he promoted an entire generation of European filmmakers, until his arrival in Valladolid, perhaps the biggest challenge and where he led a renewed, vibrant, and profoundly his own Seminci. He had a special talent for connecting different discourses and a rare sensitivity for listening before programming. For the APCP, he was —and will continue to be— the first festival director who understood that advertising production is also part of the country’s creative ecosystem.
The news of his death has shaken the entire industry. For those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him, José Luis was that professional who always found time for difficult projects, he was a professional who looked on with his enthusiasm, his rigor, his passion for cinema, and his way of supporting others.
Today, the APCP wants to thank him for his trust, for his courage in uniting worlds that still didn’t know they needed each other. José Luis Cienfuegos inaugurated more than one festival and many conversations that marked our path
Rest in peace, dear José Luis. We accompany his family.
