Spanish Cinema Week

THE FILMS IN THE SPANISH CINEMA WEEK 2012

El BOLA (PELLET)

By Achero Mañas/ 2000/ 83 min/ Social drama, friendship, child abuse/4 Goya (Spanish Cinema Academy Award): best film, best new director, best new actor and best script.

El Bola (Pellet), a boy 12 years old, lives in a big city in a depressing environment. He is a victim of child abuse in his family. He feels ashamed and has difficulties to establish a normal relationship with his school mates. The arrival of a new student to his classroom opens the opportunity to discover real friendship and another kind of family life. He will grow up stronger enough to face his own situation at home.

SOLAS (ALONE)

By Benito Zambrano/1999/Drama/ 98 min/ 5 Goya awards: best new director, best new actress, best supporting actress, best original soundtrack and best script. Berlin Festival in 1999: prize of the audience.

Maria, almost forty, lives in a dull apartment in the outskirts of the town where she works as a part time domestic employee. She has no family expectations and finds some relief in drinking. Her mother, Rosa, also carries a life of solitude in her village until she decides to visit her daughter. The old woman meets Maria´s neighbour, a solitary widow who lives in company of his dog Achiles. The relation among these three outcasts opens a window of hope in their suffocating lifes thanks to Rosa´s love, patience and discretion.

FADOS

By Carlos Saura/2007/Musical, documentary/ 93 min/ Goya award: best original song.

Fado is the most popular style of Portuguese song. It appeared in the suburbs of Lisbon in the 19^th century as an expression of sorrow and nostalgy. Great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura is in love with this kind of music. Following his previous films Flamenco (1995) and Tango (1998), Carlos Saura completes his trilogy about popular urban music in the Hispanic world. Some of the most important Portuguese artists together with other well-known singers from Spain (Miguel Poveda) Mexico (Lila Downs) or Brasil (Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque) perform in the studio to showcase this rich cultural heritage.

UN FRANCO, 14 PESETAS (CROSSING BORDERS)

By Carlos Iglesias/ 2006/ Comedy, drama, inspired in real facts/ 105 min/ Málaga Film Festival 2006: best script, prize of the audience.

Spain 1960. Many workers are made redundant at the beginning of a phase of economic development. Martin is one of them. He decides to emigrate to Switzerland in the company of his friend Marcos. They find a new social and political reality, new friends and a well paid job (hence the original title: 1 Swiss franc equals 14 Spanish pesetas). One year after, his wife (Pilar) and son (Pablo) join Martin in Switzerland. The couple gets used to their new life bearing in mind that one day they will have to go back to Spain to accomplish their dreams. In the meantime, Pablo is growing up away from Spain and his homeland becomes an unknown country. Returning to Spain will be a new challenge for this family. 

TESIS (THESIS)

By Alejandro Amenábar/1996/Thriller/125 min/ 8 Goya awards: best film, best new director, best actress, best new actor, best script, best production, best montage and best sound.

Astonishing first film by the worldwide successful Spanish –Chilean director Alejandro Amenábar (1972) Other movies by Amenábar:  Abre los ojos/Open your eyes (American remake: Vanilla sky) in 1997, Los otros/The others (with Nicole Kidman) in 2001, Mar adentro/Deep inside (with Javier Bardem, Oscar Academy Award for best non-English film in 2005) and Agora (with Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella) in 2009.

Angela is working on her PhD thesis about violence in the media. Her thesis director discovers a movie in the files of the Faculty and the next day he dies. Angela and her colleague Chema take and watch that movie which contains images of the torture and murder of a young woman. They have crossed a dangerous threshold: Angela might be the next victim in a “snuff-movie”.

LWDLIK - Thank you Eva x