Gijon, Spain News

Pedro Almodovar, Atom Egoyan, Todd Solondz, Monte Hellman, Hal Hartley, Victor Erice and Abel Ferrara are among a group of 375 film biz folk who announced Wednesday they are boycotting Spain's Gijon Film Festival, unless former director Jose Luis Cienfuegos is reinstated.

In a shock move, Jose Luis Cienfuegos has been sacked as the director of the Gijon festival, a meet he built up from 1995 into Spain's premier distribution launch-pad for edgier indie movies from the U.S., Europe and beyond.

Eneas Freyre was only competing in his third duathlon when he attended the Duathlon World Championships in Gijon, Spain in September, competing in the 35-39 year-old age group.

Barcelona-- "Declaration of War," from Gallic thesp-turned-helmer Valerie Donzelli, and Argentinean Santiago Mitre's "The Student" dominated top awards at Spain's 49th Gijon Festival on Saturday, sharing its Prince of Asturias award.

A Swedish-French language movie, "Tourist" is set up at Ostlund's Gothenburg-based Plattform Produktion.