Video & On Demand - Summer 1993 (DVD and online)
Winner Best First Feature Film and Generation KPlus Grand Prix International Jury - Berlin Film Festival 2017
Summer 1993 was the Spanish Oscar entry for 2018
Winner 'Best New Director', 'Best New Actress' and 'Best Supporting Actor' Goya awards 2018
Winner 'Best Film' 'Best Director' 'Best Screenplay' Gaudi awards 2018
Las Pequeñas Cosas / Those Little Things (Fiction, Short, 2014)
Lipstick (Fiction, Short, 2013)
Born Positive (Documentary, Short, 2012)
Lovers (Fiction, Short, 2010) Co-director
Women (Fiction, Short, 2009)
CAST | |
Frida | Laia Artigas |
Anna | Paula Robles |
Marga | Bruna Cusí |
Esteve | David Verdaguer |
Avi | Fermí Reixach |
Lola | Montse Sanz |
Ávia | Isabel Rocatti |
Ángela | Berta Pipó |
Irene | Etna Campillo |
Cesca | Paula Blanco |
Gabriel | Quimet Pla |
CREW | |
Director | Carla Simón |
Screenplay | Carla Simón |
Cinematography | Santiago Racaj |
Editing | Ana Pfaff and Didac Palou |
Art Director | Mónica Bernuy |
Production Director | Mireia Graell |
Sound Design | Roger Blasco |
Production Company | Inicia Films |
Producer | Valérie Delpierre |
Co-production Company | Avalon P.C. |
Co-producers | Maria Zamora and Stefan Schmitz |
Executive producers | Valérie Delpierre and Maria Zamora |
With support of | TVE, TVC, iCEC, iCaa, and mEDia |
Spain 2017 98 mins Certificate 12A | |
★★★★★
"Stunning drama...brilliantly realised...miraculous child performances...a jewel. In its subtlety, richness and warmth it is entirely beguiling - complex and simple at the same time.
It is also very moving...What a lovely film it is."
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
★★★★★
"An utterly beguiling debut feature from Spanish writer-director Carla Simón."
‘Eloquent…a finely crafted portrait of personal upheaval...It’s such a sad, wise insight into the way children process grief, the way happiness and mourning can coexist. It destroyed me."
Wendy Ide, The Observer
★★★★★
"Carla Simón’s debut feature Summer 1993 is a gem of a film by any standards, but when you learn that its story is based closely on the thirtysomething Catalan director’s own early life, its intimacy becomes almost overwhelming. It has at its heart a simply terrific performance from Laia Artigas as Simón’s six-year-old heroine Frida, the intonations of her face conveying variations of emotion that are powerful beyond anything words could achieve.
It's a profoundly humanistic film, bringing home powerfully the sheer achievement of parenthood, as well as how the surrounding society comes through to show its implicit tolerance...A small, but very special film."
Tom Birchenough, The ArtsDesk
★★★★★
"So lovely it hurts. The film is just right for this sultry weather. Don't miss the chance to be transported."
Charlotte O'Sullivan, The Standard
★★★★★
"Simón is building to something here, but she does so in such an unobtrusive manner, allowing small moments to unfold and build in a way that, despite a running time only a little over 90 minutes, has a languorous approach that contributes to the summery feel of the film. Even when the emotional crux of the film comes, Simón never overplays her hand.
A hugely impressive directorial debut."
Sam Inglis, The London Economic
★★★★★
"A fantastic debut...Summer 1993 burns slowly across the screen"
Victor Fraga, DMovies
★★★★★
“A stunning debut… A gorgeous, wistful remembrance of a troubled childhood, whose beguiling naturalism mines a deep vein of emotion…heartbreaking.”
Simon Kinnear, Total Film
★★★★★
'Frida’s discovery of the world is depicted with crystal clarity and extraordinary delicacy in a movie that conveys all the mysteries of childhood and a fair few of its pains. A talent to watch Simón has crafted something special. '
Sergi Sanchez, Time Out
'As Sean Baker did in The Florida Project, Simón allows us, as sentient adults, to intuit a situation while preserving the blithe innocence of the youngsters corralled centre frame.'
Mike McCahill, Cinesthesia
'Rather than revelling in blind nostalgia, Simón reminisces in atmospheres and moods – that which is perceptible to a child...(Simón) presents a humbled reflection on the impact of the AIDS crisis in Catalonia, and further on the extent to which youth predetermines the rest of our lives. In the case of Simón, we are sure to expect wonderful things.'
Lillian Crawford, LITTLE WHITE LIES
"Spain has produced some of cinema’s most resonant child protagonists and there is something of the spirit of Saura’s Cría Cuervos and Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive in Carla Simón’s beautifully crafted film. Balancing an acute sense of place and time with a broader autobiographical slant, Summer 1993 is a distinctive film realised with heartfelt sensitivity and a keen sense of visual poetry."
'Simón foregoes the bells and whistles of many other family melodramas, crafting instead an extraordinary and beautiful work of grief and memory.'
'Movingly understated and beautifully acted.'
Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
'Uniquely vivid and evocative kind of storytelling reminiscent of The Spirit of the Beehive.'
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
'Entered in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus sidebar but winner of the festival’s overall best first feature award, Catalan director Carla Simon’s debut is both tender and determined.'
'Its perception that gives Summer 1993 its strength, helping it become much more than just a period-set rites of passage film.'Sara Ward, Screen International
"Sensitive, understated… A delicate sleeper of a film...Authentic and memorable. Affectionate but yearning. Much more than just a period-set rites of passage film. It might be with a child’s eyes that Summer 1993 relates the efforts of a six year-old trying to cope with grief, but it is with maturity, empathy and heartfelt emotion that it conveys the uncertain reality that follows.”Jay Weissberg, Variety
“Thoughtful, delicately crafted and moving… establishes Simón as a talent to watch.”
Jonathan Holland, The Hollywood Reporter
“Dreamlike. A beautiful and personal film, impressively and sensitively crafted. Its director and screenwriter Carla Simón is an exciting emerging filmmaker to watch.”
Melissa Palmenter, Jury President, BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL SUTHERLAND AWARD JURY
'Hailed as the Best Film of the Year (last) year by different factions of Spanish critics...'
Film Comment
Download poster jpg
Trailer on Vimeo (can be downloaded) Trailer on YouTube (can be embedded)
Download full size pro-res of trailer here
Carla Simón on the autobiography behind her films, in Talkhouse