Close Your Eyes

France, 1947: a refugee from Franco's terror hopes that a fellow Spaniard can help him find his lost daughter in a far-away Shanghai – but this is not the film we will enjoy. This is merely part of a film that the main character of Close Your Eyes, former director Miguel Garay, had to leave unfinished. One day during the shoot its star (and Garay’s best friend), Julio Arenas, vanished, never to return. Now, it's 2012 and Miguel is pestered by some TV producers of dubious moral value who want to revive the Arenas case. Needing the money, he agrees to participate.

It has been 31 years since Víctor Erice, living legend of Spanish cinema has been able to finish a feature film – making Close Your Eyes one of the most highly anticipated works of 2023. And Erice does not disappoint! His latest film is a melancholy tribute to the power and the once and future meaning of cinema. A work of rare richness in its narrative layers, an object lesson in storytelling as the art of detours, as well as a deeply personal meditation on his own oeuvre.

– Olaf Möller