Por Redaccion 
The councilor of Culture of the City Council of Gijón, Montserrat López Moro, presented this Thursday the next edition of the Gijón Poetry Festival (POEX), which will be held from March 13 to 22 with cinema as the guiding thread.
López, during the presentation of the event at the old School of Commerce, highlighted that Gijón will become a cultural reference for ten days where poetry will be the protagonist, this year linked to cinema.
She also emphasized that the festival is «more plural and contemporary» in its approach to poetry as a form of expression, not limited to verbal language.
From this perspective, according to the councilor, the festival establishes a network of connection and collaboration with various entities and institutions in the city related to the cultural field, where the Gijón International Film Festival (FIX) has a special presence in this edition.
LABoral Centro de Arte, the Philharmonic Society of Gijón, Toma 3, the public library network, and primary and secondary schools will also have their space.
López Moro emphasized that with POEX they propose a pause in the inertia of our time through «a versatile proposal in which cinema linked to poetry takes center stage.» There will also be music, workshops, exhibitions, contests, and, of course, plenty of poetry.
Alongside her, the literary director of POEX, Jaime Priede, announced that, as a preliminary event not included in the official program, on the 13th there will be a poetry reading by the authors who will participate in the festival throughout the week.
This reading has been worked on by the high school students of IES Nº 1 in Gijón since last December. On this preliminary day, there will also be the presence of Rosario Neira, a poet from Oviedo who was the youngest author to win the Adonais Prize. Neira will have a conversation with the critic and poet José Luis García Martínez.
As for the start of the festival, on Friday, March 14, it will begin with the opening conference by María Ángeles Pérez López, a professor at the University of Salamanca, poet, writer, and closely linked to the Hispanic field. Her conference is titled ‘Poetry and Migration, Critical Readings and Contemporary Forms’.
Priede emphasized that migration may be one of the main themes for him in the 21st century. He also mentioned that the conference will conclude with a reading from his book titled ‘Mediterranean Book of the Dead’.
Also, the actress and singer Leonor Watling will participate in POEX in a conversation with Edu Galán. Within the same thematic thread of the festival, on Sunday, March 16, marking the tenth anniversary of the filming of the documentary ‘Se dice poeta’ by Sofía Castañón, there will be a review of the documentary followed by a discussion with some of the authors involved.
Additionally, on March 19, Juan Vico will come to Gijón, who recently published the novel ‘Los regresos’, a biography of the poet Dino Campana. Vico has also published a novel that provides a perspective on a specific type of cinema. There will be a conversation with this author about both books.
On Thursday, March 20, the film ‘Notas sobre un verano’ by Diego Lorente will be screened, which Priede considers one of the «freshest» films where literature and poetry play a significant role. The director and lead actress, Katia Bordalo, will be present at the screening. Bordalo will read passages from books included in the film and then engage in a discussion with both.
Priede also announced that on Friday, March 21, a poetry workshop will be presented in collaboration with LABoral Centro de Arte, titled ‘Everyday Crafts’.
On the same day, ‘How to be Perfect’ by Ron Padgett will be presented, an anthology of bilingual poetry that includes poems from the film Paterson. Aníbal Cristobo, among others, will be present. Subsequently, the film will be screened.
Furthermore, on Saturday, March 22, the award ceremony and screening of the most selected videos in the videopoetry contest will take place, which, according to Priede, holds special thematic relevance this year.
Additionally, at the old School of Commerce, there will be a collaboration with the Minera Film Association, featuring a visual poetry screening of ‘Words in Shadow’, an audiovisual montage created from iconic scenes in cinema history with a high aesthetic value.
On the same day, at 6:00 pm, ‘Tren de sombras’ by José Luis Guerín will be screened at the old School of Commerce, a film that Priede considers one of the most important Spanish films of the last century from his point of view.
He views it as a very contemporary film in many ways. On the occasion of the screening, there will be a virtual meeting with José Luis Guerín and a discussion with the audience, as well as with filmmaker Diego Llorente and Martín Cuesta, a programming advisor for FICX.