<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/24-Festival-Internacional-de-Cine-Las-Palmas-de-Gran-Canaria-26-1024x682.jpg\")
04.25.24. Frederick Elmes. Alfredo Kraus Auditorium. Pictures by Tony Hern\u00e1ndez<\/p><\/div>\n
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Friday, April 25, 2025.- The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, which has already started this Friday, April 25, has reserved a special place in its 24th edition to American filmmaker David Lynch. The Festival pays tribute to the unique artist from Missolua (Montana, USA) with a wide retrospective and more than a nod in its official poster: Twin Peaks\u2019 iconic black and white flagstone pavement. And within this tribute what better way of accompanying the screenings than by bringing in one of his closest collaborators, cinematographer Frederick Elmes<\/strong>. He spoke to the media in a press conference held at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium alongside the director of the LPA Film Festival, Luis Miranda, and film critic Quim Casas, who\u2019s also written an essential book in the Spanish language on Lynch\u2019s filmography (David Lynch<\/em>, C\u00e1tedra, 2007)<\/p>\n After introducing the feature film opening the retrospective this evening, Eraserhead<\/em>, the three of them will have a talk tomorrow, Saturday 26, prior to the screening of Blue Velvet<\/em>, scheduled at 8 p.m. at the Lynch Room.<\/p>\n Elmes, whose job was essential to creating an absorbing film atmosphere in features like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet <\/em>or Wild at Heart<\/em>, highlighted Lynch\u2019s particular aesthetic vision and his powerful approach when trying to condition the audience\u2019s mood. Something that has given his works an undeniable magnetism for audiences. The current edition of the Festival is not exempt from this situation: most of the screenings of its films are close to selling out.<\/p>\n Frederick Elmes considered \u201csuch an honor\u201d to be at the Festival. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to be in a new city, in a new place, in a new culture for me, and to talk about a thing that I love, making movies,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cAnd it\u2019s very important to me to talk about David Lynch, the films we made together, and his legacy and influence on the film industry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDavid made,\u201d he continued, \u201cvery particular films, and he had a very special style. His films are not really for everyone, though some are more accessible than others.\u201d Along these lines, he also noted that The Elephant Man<\/em>, for instance, \u201cis quite brilliant. Some films are more understandable, more traditional in their structure, and some are not, some are very particular, and I think it were those particular elements that David brings to filmmaking that attracted me to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Elmes met Lynch when they both were very young, at the American Film Institute. “We had kind of an immediate bond: our curiosity about images, our curiosity about creating, in David\u2019s words, kind of a painting that moves,” he recalled, “of this world that we\u2019re creating, and bring those elements together in a way that a traditional movie didn\u2019t do.”<\/p>\n It was that bond that made possible their professional collaboration in different productions. The cinematographer shared some anecdotes of his work with the unique filmmaker that give an insight into his personality. Like when, during a shooting, he moved an object on the table to make a composition more perfect for him \u201cand David looked at me and he said: We don\u2019t move things on the set, this is where it belongs, you\u2019ll photograph it where it belongs\u2026 So he had a very particular vision that I learned to interpret, I learned to really do it his way, and I think that that joining of our personalities and our tastes is what helped make some of those films what they are.\u201d Or like during Eraserhead<\/em>\u2019s shooting, when one of David\u2019s favorite lines was \u201cyou know, Fred, I still see some detail in the shadows, it should be dark, it should be really black over there, I don\u2019t want to see anything. Which was scary for me,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbecause I\u2019m trying to light things and make them come up on the film, and David is saying no, it\u2019s better if it\u2019s dark, if better we don\u2019t know what\u2019s over there.\u201d Elmes also revealed that he could not work in Twin Peaks<\/em>, \u201ca wonderful mystery that changed television in many ways,\u201d because he was filming Wild at Heart<\/em>.<\/p>\n Elmes explained that Lynch \u201ckept talking about the mood, the mood had to be correct, but he left it to me to get there, to find it, which was wonderful and created freedom for me because I could express myself and still create an image that David was pleased with.\u201d He was able to do it not only in three feature films, but also in some shorts and even in some commercials for Calvin Klein or Yves Saint Laurent, to name a few.<\/p>\n Regarding his long professional career, the cinematographer noted the difficulties he had when shifting from 35 mm film to digital photography (\u201cit was a bump\u201d), although he has used both and interchanged between them.<\/p>\n For Elmes, the complexity of storytelling remains a challenge because \u201cwhen you start to make a film, for instance, you start with the pages of the story and the script and you watch it unfold and develop and become real.\u201d From the perspective of a true artist, he thinks \u201cthat remains the same, those are very important tools that we learned in making movies and that we only really get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Elmes\u2019 intervention, Luis Miranda, the director of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, remembered Lynch\u2019s passing last January and revealed that \u201cwe knew we had to dedicate him a special space, and the truth is that little by little it has taken over the Festival: Lynch represents something very special for us, at least for those of us who belong to a certain generation.\u201d<\/p>\n Miranda pointed out that the American filmmaker \u201chas shaped our sensitivity. He has changed our way of looking at things, really, and his cultural influence goes far beyond what is possible to measure. And besides, he\u2019s been a fantastic filmmaker.\u201d That is, \u201ca master making movies,\u201d hence his happiness about \u201cthe great fortune of being able to have here one of his key collaborators, Frederick Elmes.\u201d<\/p>\n Miranda also mentioned the cinematographer\u2019s professional career, during which he has collaborated with other directors such as John Cassavetes, Jim Jarmusch or Ang Lee. And from Quim Casas he emphasized his role as a film critic and writer, as well as a book about Jarmusch the Festival commissioned him years ago: \u201cHis work,\u201d he said, \u201cis essential to the understanding in Spanish of David Lynch\u2019s filmography.\u201d<\/p>\n Casas, a special guest at the press conference, claimed that \u201cif you asked me now who are my ten favorite film directors, I\u2019d say that three of them are David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch and John Cassavetes. And Frederick Elmes has worked with all of them, so you can imagine what an honor it is for me to be sitting here, next to him.\u201d Regarding Lynch, he recalled an interview in which the filmmaker explained to him \u201cin a pretty clear way that ideas are floating in the air, it\u2019s only a matter of knowing how to catch them and capitalize on them.\u201d<\/p>\n The writer maintains that in David Lynch\u2019s work \u201cBlue Velvet<\/em> marks a before and after, he made it after Dune<\/em>\u2019s commercial failure, and with it he regained his touch as a filmmaker.\u201d And, above all, Casas believes that \u201cthere has been no one from the second half of the 20th century onwards who embodies as much and as well the idea of the renaissance artist\u201d as Lynch. \u201cBecause he didn\u2019t just make movies,\u201d he explained, \u201che made movies, television, music\u2026 He had industrial blues albums, pop, dream pop. He painted, he photographed.\u201d Futhermore, he continued, \u201cI think he is the filmmaker who best understood the Internet\u2019s possibilities, when everybody else was looking at the net as a threat. He created his own website, where he made lots of short films as experimental pieces. And his famous weather report.\u201d Lynch even \u201cmade commercials, videoclips, installations, furniture design\u2026 He touched practically all areas and always in a very coherent way.\u201d<\/p>\n Casas also recalled that Lynch used to say that he \u201cstarted to make cinema because he wanted to bring volume and sound to his paintings.\u201d For the writer, \u201cthe best thing you can do with Lynch is to let yourself go, avoiding any kind of logical analysis towards his films. That\u2019s how we can understand that in Lost Highway<\/em>, for example, a character is in prison one day, and then the following day there\u2019s another one in the same cell. Or what happens inside the mind of the protagonist of Eraserhead<\/em>, or in Lumberton, Blue Velvet<\/em>\u2019s town. Or the whole Twin Peaks<\/em> universe.\u201d<\/p>\n Every one of these twists and settings are present in the Lynch \u2013 Walk With Me section, which holds a significant space in this current edition of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. His ten feature films, five short films and four Twin Peaks<\/em> episodes screening at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas thanks to SkyShowtime\u2019s collaboration have already proven their appeal to the audience with several sessions already sold out.<\/p>\n Partners, sponsors and collaborators of the 24 FICLPGC<\/strong><\/p>\n The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, organized by the Culture area of the Gran-Canarian capital\u2019s City Council through Promoci\u00f3n de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has received public assistance by the ICAA [Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts], the Visitors\u2019 Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE), of the Spanish Public Agency for Cultural Action (AC\/E), as well as public support from Promotur Turismo Islas Canarias.<\/p>\n Among the Festival\u2019s collaborators we may find Fundaci\u00f3n Auditorio Teatro, Cines Yelmo, Las Arenas Shopping Center and Hotel Cristina by Tigotan, places which also function as venues or hold activities of the film event; as well as other institutions and companies such as Sagulpa, Toyota, Royal Bliss, Fuze Tea, Coca Cola, Sholeo Lodge, Audiovisuales Canarias, Music Library &SFX, Blackout Films and International Bach Festival. Likewise, its market, MECAS, has been possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Gran Canaria Film Commission-Sociedad de Promoci\u00f3n Econ\u00f3mica de Gran Canaria and the support of Proexca.<\/p>\n The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Mid Atlantic University, Digital 104, the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media CIMA, the Cartagena International Film Festival, the Gij\u00f3n International Film Festival, the Barcelona Independent Film Festival, the Tres Puertos Laboratory, Barcelona\u2019s ESCAC, and Very Good Script, Freak World and Fimucit\u00e9 are also collaborators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 Film critic and writer Quim Casas describes the American filmmaker as a true Renaissance man, to whom the Festival has dedicated a retrospective this year: \u201cThe best thing you can do with Lynch,\u201d he advises, \u201cis to let yourself go, avoiding any kind of logical analysis towards his films\u201d \u2022 Accompanied by Luis Miranda, Frederick Elmes and Quim Casas …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":22967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[401],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}