Expect darker films in this year’s run of Película, the annual Spanish film festival in Manila.
Described as “the grandest Spanish film festival in Asia,” or “the largest celebration of Spanish and Latin American filmmaking in Asia and the Pacific,” it will run Oct. 4-14 in Greenbelt 3 Cinemas, Makati.
Opening movie is “No Habrá Paz para los Malvados” (No Rest for the Wicked, 2011), on Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m., at Cinema 2, Greenbelt 3, Makati (by invitation). The Spanish noir thriller won six Goya awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director for Enrique Urbizu.
Instituto Cervantes de Manila has been organizing Película since 2001. For the 11th year of the festival, it is teaming up with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines and Film Development Council of the Philippines, and screening 16 feature films, nine shorts and two documentaries.
Animation for adults
Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Domecq, in a press conference at MyCinema, Greenbelt 3, said the films were chosen according to their “relevance, concept and style.”
Moviegoers could look forward to “Arrugas” (Wrinkles, 2012), an animation movie about the friendship between two men in a home for the elderly. The film, directed by Ignacio Ferreras, won Best Animation in the 2012 Goya Awards.
The horror-thriller “Mientras Duermes” (Sleep Tight, 2011) and the May-December drama “Madrid, 1987” (2011), will have their Philippine premiere in Película.
Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez will be in Manila on Oct. 8 for the screening of his film, “Grupo 7.” It tells the story of Unit 7, a police unit tasked to fight drug-trafficking in Spain’s ghettos during the ’80s. The film has been short-listed as the Spanish representative to this year’s Oscars’ Best Foreign Film category.
Rodríguez will answer questions from the audience after the screening.
The other films are: “Donde el Olor del Mar No Llega” (Far from the Smell of the Sea, 2010), by Lilián Rosado Gonzáles; “Un Cuento Chino” (A Chinese Tall Tale, Spain and Argentina, 2011), by Sebastián Borensztein; “Dos Hermanos” (Two Siblings, Argentina, 2010), by Daniel Burman; “After,” by Alberto Rodríguez (2009); “Katmandú, un Espejo en el Cielo” (Kathmandu, a Mirror in the Sky, 2012), by Icíar Bollaín; “Lo Mejor De Eva” (Dark Impulse, 2012), by Mariano Barroso; “Pa Negre” (Black Bread, 2010), by Agustí Villaronga; “La Chispa de la Vida” (The Spark of Life, 2011), by Álex de La Iglesia; “5 Metros Cuadrados” (5 Square Meters, 2011), by Max Lemcke; “18 Comidas” (18 Meals, 2010), by Jorge Coira; “80 Egunean” (In Eighty Days, 2010), by Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga.
Coincidence
Instituto Cervantes director Eduardo Calvo clarified that the films were not chosen based on their heavy themes.
“It was a coincidence that most of the films deal with dark topics,” he said. “People, including filmmakers, are inspired with emotions; the films are also relatable.”
He said there would also be some comedies and light dramas in the selection.
The contemporary short films from the Basque region are: “Ámár,” by Isabel Herguera; “Artalde (Rebaño)” (Flock), by Asier Altuna; “La Cortadora de Margaritas” (Daisy Cutter), by Enrique García and Rubén Salazar; “Exhibition 19,” by Alaitz Arenzana and María Ibarretxe; “La Gran Carrera” (The Great Race), by Kote Camacho; “Korosho (Todo Bien)” (Everything’s Alright), by Miguel Ángel Jiménez; “Un Novio de Mierda” (A Crappy Boyfriend), by Borja Cobeaga; “Ondar Ahoak (Bocas de Arena)” (Mouths of Sand), by Angel Aldarondo; and “El Premio” (The Award), by León Siminiani.
All films were released in 2010.
The docus, shown in 2011, are “Hollywood Talkies,” the journey of Spanish actors in the US during the ’30s; and “Jacques Leonard, el Payo Chac,” a bio of the French photographer.
As in the previous years, festivalgoers will cast their ballot for the Audience Choice award. One may join by watching at least five films and accomplishing a ballot that serves as a raffle entry. Ticket is at P65 per movie.
The winning movie will be screened on the last day, Oct. 14, at 9:30 p.m. A round-trip plane fare to Madrid, Spain, via Qatar Airways will be raffled off before the screening.
Visit www.pelicula.ph, https://manila.cervantes.es or Instituto Cervantes on Facebook page for full schedule. Call tel. 5261482. Instituto Cervantes de Manila is at 855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila.
