Friday, December 2, 2011

Heads up! Spanish Cinema Now--20th edition--opens next Friday at the FSLC

Aficionados of Spanish film, take heart: the 20th edition of Spanish Cinema Now arrives at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center this coming Friday, December 9, and will feature, as usual, an array of the latest films from Spain, as well as its usual "tribute" portion of the program -- this year honoring the late and legendary Spanish director, Luis García Berlanga.

According to FSLC press release, highlights for this year’s series include the opening-night screening of the new film from Nacho Vigalondowho three years ago gave us the terrific little sci-fi thriller Time Crimes, and now has another original, sci-fi-based delight called Extraterrestrial (shown at top, and one of the must-sees of the series) Mireia Ros’ Catalan documentary Barcelona Before; and the magic realist Galician film Crebinsky, directed by Enrique Otero. A new generation of Spanish comedy is also well represented in this year’s edition of Spanish Cinema Now, with box-office superstar Santiago Segura’s Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis, the latest film in the Torrente series, and Daniel Sánchez Areválo’s comedy Cousinhood (above). Also of note is the Spanish-Portuguese co-production José and Pilar, Miguel Gonçalves Mendes' portrait of the final years of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago and his Spanish wife Pilar del Rio.

Attending filmmakers and actors include Señores Vigalondo, Sanchez Arevalo and Segura; Quim Gutiérrez (above, from SCN's 2009 Sangre de Mayo and appearing this year in the the ensemble of Cousinhood); Ms. Ros;  Jonás Trueba, write/director of Every Song Talks About Me (a still from which appears at bottom of post); Marina Comas, one of the stars of Black Bread (shown below, left: Her film is back this year for an encore screening after walking away with with a bunch of Goya Awards), and Alberto Morais, write/director of The Waves, a still from which is the penultimate photo below.

A centerpiece of the film series will be the 10-film tribute to the late Luis García Berlanga, one of Spain’s greatest directors, who died last year. Together with Juan Antonio Bardem, Berlanga revolutionized Spanish cinema by shaking up what had been a fairly dormant scene with a series of films such as Welcome Mr. Marshall, Plácido and The Executioner (below, and one of the must-sees of this series).

Having viewed but eight of the 27 films that comprise this year's program, TrustMovies is in no state to say much more about the series, other than: Go if you can!  Of the eight films so far, three -- maybe four -- are must-see, with the rest at least worthwhile, pleasant and/or interesting. I'll start posting on the individual films tomorrow -- each post will begin with the letters SCN -- and will continue throughout the series for the next three weeks until I have seen and covered all the films. Well, almost all. We shall see....

Spanish Cinema Now is presented by the FSLC in collaboration with the Spanish Film Institute (ICAA) in Madrid and the Instituto Cervantes in New York, with special thanks also to the Spanish Consulate General in New York.

Tickets are on sale now, both at the box office and on-line. Discount single screening tickets are available for students, seniors, Film Society and Cervantes Institute members, but anyone can enjoy a Special Four-Film Discount Package.  Click here to view the entire program. To purchase tickets, click on the individual film and then on the BUY TICKETS link under SHOWTIMES.

Photos above are from the films themselves. 
Thanks especially to www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com 
for the still from The Executioner.

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