Summer 1993

SUMMER 1993, Spain’s Official Oscar® entry for Best Foreign Language Film, is based on first-time feature filmmaker Carla Simón’s own childhood experiences, the film premiered at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won Best First Feature and Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International Jury, and is now one of five nominees for the European Film Awards’ European Discovery 2017 FIPRESCI prize.

Six-year-old Frida looks on in silence as the last objects from her recently deceased mother’s apartment in Barcelona are placed in boxes. Although her aunt, uncle and younger cousin Anna welcome her with open arms, it’s only very slowly that Frida begins to get used to her new home in the countryside. SUMMER 1993 is punctuated by moments of youthful exuberance and mature ruminations. This coming of age drama, set amongst summery hues, is an extraordinarily moving snapshot of being a child in an adult world, anchored by flawless performances by its two young stars.

“A delicately crafted, moving filmic memoir… that the film draws deeply on personal recollection can be sensed in virtually every frame… childhood memoirs always are under threat from self-indulgence and sentimentality, but SUMMER 1993 successfully sidesteps both, establishing Simon as a talent to watch.” – Jonathan Holland, Hollywood Reporter

“Authentic and memorable. It might be with a child’s eyes that SUMMER 1993 relates the efforts of a six year-old trying to cope with grief, but it is with maturity, empathy and heartfelt emotion that it conveys the uncertain reality that follows.” – Sarah Ward, Screen International

“A delicate sleeper of a film that movingly looks at an orphaned six-year-old's loneliness and confusion without the usual dip into sentimentality. Carla Simón’s sensitive, understated autobiographical debut… paints a vivid portrait of a light-filled summer…” – Jay Weissberg, Variety