Close Your Eyes

Cerrar los ojos

64th TIFF: Greek Premiere

A famous Spanish actor, Julio Arenas, disappears during the filming of a movie. Many years later, the mystery resurfaces once again in a television show, and his close friend, Miguel, who is also a film director, takes it upon himself to unravel it. The great Victor Erice, creator of the timeless masterpiece The Spirit of the Beehive, returns to the world of cinema after years of absence to present what might be the most personal film of his career: a nostalgic allegory about identity and memory, which, as Seferis wrote, “hurts wherever you touch it.” A melancholic elegy for lost dreams, an ode to male friendship, and a quirky detective film, the wonderful Close Your Eyes transcends genre boundaries, ultimately manifesting as another heartfelt declaration of Victor Erice’s love for the art of cinema itself.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Víctor Erice

Script: Victor Erice, Michel Gaztambide

Cinematography: Valentín Álvarez

Editing: Ascen Marchena

Sound: Iván Marín

Music: Federico Jusid

Actors: Manolo Solo, Jose Coronado, Ana Torrent, María León, Helena Miquel

Production: La mirada del adiós

Producers: Víctor Erice, José Alba, Odile Antonio-Baez, Agustin Bossi, Pablo Bossi, Pol Bossi, Maximiliano Lasansky

Costumes: Helena Sanchis

Executive producer: Cristina Zumárraga

Make Up: Beatushka Wojtowicz

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: Argentina

Production Year: 2023

Duration: 169'

Víctor Erice

Filmmaker and writer Víctor Erice is regarded as one of the most renowned filmmakers from Spain. He was born in Carranza in 1940. At the age of 17 Erice moved to Madrid where he first studied economics and politics before turning to film directing at Escuela Oficial de Cinematografia. He has written for and was editor of the Spanish film journal Nuestro Cine. After making several short films, he shot his feature debut with the magical-realist classic The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), which would attain a legendary status within Spanish cinema. He then went on to make The South (1983), an adaptation of the novel by Adelaida García Morales. The Quince Tree Sun (1992), his documentary about painter Antonio López García, won both the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. In 2002, Erice filmed Lifeline, one of the episodes in the feature film Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet, in which other prominent international filmmakers also participated, including Aki Kaurismäki, Jim Jarmusch, Werner Herzog, and Spike Lee. In 2005, within the context of the exhibition titled Erice–Kiarostami. Correspondence, he started to direct the series of short films Letters to Abbas Kiarostami. At the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, Erice was awarded a Golden Leopard award for lifetime achievement. Close Your Eyes, his first feature film in thirty years, premiered in Cannes in 2023.