Back in 2012, actress-turned-director Sandra Lipski wanted to crown a successful festival run for her debut short film “Going Down” with a screening in her hometown of Mallorca, but was surprised to realize the thriving island did not have its own film festival. Rather than wait for it to happen, she decided to start one herself. The result is Evolution Mallorca, celebrating its landmark 15th edition this year and taking place between Oct. 28 and Nov. 4.
Lipski was born in Germany, but moved to her family on the Spanish island as a young girl, later heading to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. When the 2008 writers’ strike hit Hollywood, the actress was on the cusp of a big break. “That was very frustrating for me as an actress because that was the year I had a lot of big things coming out,” she tells Variety when recalling the origins of the festival. “I then said I would just do my own short film, which I did. Then I spent 2010 travelling to a lot of festivals.”
“I was so confused about Mallorca not having a film festival,” she adds. “Living in the U.S., there was a film festival in every tiny town, and it felt obvious to me the island would have one because it felt like the perfect festival location. I was very young at the time and just decided to try it and see what happens. I pulled some friends together, many Europeans who, like me, were born somewhere else but grew up here, and we created a very well-rounded team.”
In the years since its inception, Evolution Mallorca ballooned into a destination festival showcasing the best of cinema produced in the region but also attracting major international names. Guests who have attended previous editions include Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, Paul Haggis and Jessica Hausner. This year’s edition is set to be another glitzy one, with the festival honoring “Conclave” director Edward Berger, “Black Swan” cinematographer Matthew Libatique, “Inglourious Basterds” actress Diane Kruger, and “Triangle of Sadness” star Iris Berben.
This year’s line-up will feature over 100 projects across its program, with the festival boasting its largest feature film selection to date. International highlights include Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” Paweł Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” and the opening gala in Jordan Firstman’s Cannes-dazzler “Club Kid.”
“We try having more glamorous, notable films in our international feature film section, films that have won awards from other festivals and already have a strong seal of approval,” says Lipski. “We need this section as it works as a helium balloon lifting the festival towards a wider audience. But, just a millimeter away, we are pushing the debut feature section and Made in Baleares, which is what Evolution is all about: giving a platform to and celebrating upcoming filmmakers.”
Notable films amongst the Made in Baleares section, which celebrates local cinema, include the world premiere of Juan Sut’s “Torna,” a co-production between Mexico and Mallorca following a young man who learns the house his dad left him in Mallorca is inhabited; Danna Ayelén Bosch García’s doc “Un Darrer Capfico,” exploring the intimate bond between Mallorcans and the sea; and Marga Melià’s “Putting Up With Paradise,” which revisits talks with Mallorcan artists to provide a critical, human look at the island’s past and future.
“What makes Evolution special is that these films all stand next to each other,” emphasizes the festival director. “They are all equally important to us and give the festival its soul of diversity and inclusion, reaffirming our mission of giving a platform to new voices.”
The director also says she has seen certain themes emerge in the section: overcrowded islands, housing issues for the local younger generation and finding a balance with tourism. “I don’t think it can go away; I think we just need to find a way to deal with it,” she says. “The island needs tourism as it is a main source of income, but we need to contain it so that local life is not forgotten.”
Lipski also notes the festival’s continued mission of platforming short films, which speaks directly to Evolution’s origins. “These are important filmmakers because they will be the future of the industry. And we have names like Renée Zellweger and Michael Keaton in the program, directing their first shorts. I always say: Don’t underestimate the power of a short film.”
Evolution also has a key differentiator with its Cinematography Focus, a section celebrating the art, vision, and craft of cinematography. This year’s program will be led by Cinematography Icon Awardee Matthew Libatique and delivered in collaboration with British Cinematographer and Camera & Light Magazine. Activities include a hands-on lighting workshop, an exclusive Icon Talk with Libatique, and a timely panel discussion on the female gaze in cinematography. Previous editions have welcomed and honored some of the world’s most influential cinematographers, including Ed Lachman, Erik Messerschmidt, Anthony Dod Mantle, Phedon Papamichael and Oona Menges.
Speaking about the origins of the section, Lipski says that, on the festival’s 10th anniversary, she sat down with her team – which includes her husband, cinematographer Rainer Lipski – to understand how they could celebrate the craft within Evolution. The director says there are festivals dedicated to cinematography, like Cameraimage, but she couldn’t find other film festivals with intensive programs focused on professionals. “It has really grown into a meeting point for cinematographers from all around the world,” she notes.
The festival director is also a big supporter of promoting Mallorca as a shooting destination, as well as underscoring how great a location it is to host a film festival. “In the last decade, Mallorca has really boomed in terms of production,” she says. “It’s also a sanctuary for celebrities, which is not why I do the festival here, but it’s a helpful point in showing how accessible the island is from all over the world. We are very well-connected and in a very desirable place in the south of the Mediterranean. It’s very similar climate-wise to Los Angeles, and that’s how the industry started in LA, because the climate was so perfect.”
“People just love to come,” she adds. “The island has amazing infrastructure in terms of hotels, production companies, equipment… You can find everything here. I think it’s time to give it more of a push to show that to people. We have an event called Mallorca Go, which happens on the last weekend of the festival, where we take the visiting producers and filmmakers somewhere on the island. This year we are taking them to Calvià, a municipality in the southwest that has proclaimed this year to be its year of cinema and is inviting more film shoots. We want the island to be a thriving film destination.”