Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival is even stronger (yap) in 2013

If I could make it to all the sessions, I could cut my most-anticipated-2013-films list by a chunky half or something like that. Once again, the festival is amazingly eclectic, bringing acclaimed authors and creators from arts other than the seventh (literature, music, painting, dancing, even drifting into television). Please, check out the guests because I wouldn't have room to take them all into fair account.

 My personal highlights:

Everything by Wong Kar-Wai and James Gray, including their latests The Grandmaster and The Immigrant, respectively (the directors will be in Lisbon for masterclasses);

Inside Llewyn Davis, written and directed by the Coen brothers, my most awaited film of the year;

Gloria, written by Sebastián Lelio and Gonzalo Maza and directed by Lelio, starring Silver Bear winner Paulina Garcia, one of the beautiful films I saw in San Sebastián;

The Past, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the author of one of the most surprising and brilliant films of 2011, A Separation (nominated for Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and winner of Best Foreign Film), starring The Artist star Bérénice Bejo, Iran's pick for the foreign Oscar race;

Blue is the Warmest Color, written and directed by Ghalia Lacroix and Abdellatif Kechiche (based on a comic by Julie Maroh), directed by Kechiche, the three-hour-long epic about teenage lesbian love who won the Golden Palm and has been causing much controversy in the media lately;

Fruitvale Station, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, the most adored Sundance-flick of the year (a little bit like Beasts of the Southern Wild last year);

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, written and directed by frequent Wes Anderson collaborator and son of King Francis Ford, Roman Coppola;

Child's Pose, written by Razvan Radulescu and Calin Peter, directed by Peter, hopefully another Romenian pearl, who nabbed the Golden Bear this year;

Venus in Fur, written by David Ives (based on his play) and Roman Polanski, directed by Polanski, two years after LEFF brought Carnage, one of the best movies of 2011;

Like Father, Like son, written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, film sensation in Cannes and winner of the Audience Award in Sab Sebastián (unfortunately I couldn't see it);

Short Term 12, written and directed by Destin Creton, a drama about a foster home by a guy who worked in one for a couple of years, has been gathering big award buzz;

Only Lovers Left Alive, written and directed by Jim Jarmush, and who doesn't want to see a vampire movie that's not about teenagers and is directed by the owner of the arthouse club and the MoMA star Tilda Swinton?