'Nits de Cinema', the summer cinema festival of the Universitat de València, opened its doors 9 to 17 July in the Senate of La Nau Cultural Centre. The cycle, organised by the Cinema Club UV and that this year reached its 16th edition, projected eight full-length films in original version with subtitles to approach the night in the cinema from different perspectives, periods, genres and countries.
Under the title ‘La noche en el cine’, ‘Nits de Cinema’ it proposed many romantic, terror, crime or mistery stories tld by producers, such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Blake Edwards, Louis Malle or Anatole Litvak, among others.
The cycle started, on Wednesday 9, with ¡Jo, qué noche! (After Hours), a comedy directed by Martin Scorsese in 1985 that tells the crazy and catastrophic night of an informatic programmer when, coming back from work, looses the subway in one of the worst towns of New York. The film has had an enormous influence in numerous films of many countries.
On Thursday 10, ‘Nits de Cinema’ gave a jump to the middle of last century with the projection of Voces de muerte (Sorry, Wrong Number) by Anatole Litvak (1948). Stared by Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, it is based on a radiophonic work and it supposes a thriller that maintains the tension through all the film.
Another of the excellent producers in the festival of this year was the French Louis Malle, with the film Ascensor para el cadalso (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud) (1958), dark cinema in its purest estate, with music by Miles Davis, for the night of Friday 11.
Music was also star on Saturday 12, with the projection of mute cinema classic with live music accompaniment. We are talking about the cycle ‘En mut i en directe’, with which Cinema Club UV proposes to disseminate cinema previous to sound. This year, the chosen film was La pasión de Juana de Arco (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc), by Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928).
The story counted with the music track composed by the professor Ana Teruel Medina and was interpreted live by Tránsito Sonoro, electronic and clarinet duo formed by Bartolomé Llorens and Alberto Trabajos which explores diverse territories of contemporary music. This way, La Nau released this score that accompained one of the absolute classics of global cinema history.
On Sunday 13, Nina, by Andrea Jaurrieta (2024), was projected, a modern tale of vengeance; and on Monday 14 La noche del cazador (The Night of the Hunter), by Charles Laughton (1955), was presented, key work of the 50s, with the iconic presence of Robert Mitchum with the words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed in the fingers.
The party took place in ‘La noche en el cine’ on Tuesday 15 with El guateque (The Party) by Blake Edwards (1968), a crazy comedy that puts the focus on the vicissitudes that take place in the own cinematographic production; while a terror classic was in charge of putting the finishing touches to ‘Nits de Cinema’ on Thursday 17: we talk about Drácula, by Bram Stoker (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), master work by Francis Ford Coppola, released on 1992, one of the most highlighted adaptations of the original novel.
‘Nits de Cinema’ is a festival that in 2025 celebrated its 16th edition, organised by UVculture through the Cinema Club UV and that this year had for the first time the collaboration of the Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de València (EASD) through the design of the cycle poster, done by the student Teresa Giménez.
These screenings was combined with introductory sessions by critics and university professors to provide the contextual and analytical keys for each feature film.
