Thursday, January 31, 2013

Apology for yesterday's Instituto Cervantes horror screening--without English subtitles!

Sorry, folk. But Instituto Cervantes did not do its due diligence prior to screening last night's Spanish horror film, Bilbao, from early in the career of Bigas Luna. All eight movies in this horror-film series, which TrustMovies covered two weeks previous, were expected to have English subtitles accompanying them.  But when TM arrived at IC for the screening, he discovered a sheet of paper being handed out that explained that only four of the eight films would have these subtitles. Bad!

Then, just prior to the 6pm start time, an IC representative arrived to explain that Bilbao, from 1978, was impossible to find in any form that had English subtitles. But the rep then assured us that all five of the remaining films would indeed have these subtitles. So, if you plan to show up for any further films and are not fluent in the Spanish language, you'll still be safe. (You can view the entire schedule here.)

This is disappointing, and I don't recall it happening at IC previous-ly. This storied organization, devoted to Spanish culture and art and which has chapters all around the world, seems to be suffering a bit here in New York City. It no longer has a public relations representative, and its web site needs major help. Ah, well. Budget cuts are everywhere these days, and with Spain among the hardest hit European countries economically, I guess we are lucky, at this point, to even have what we have. IC still offers its wonderful library full of Spanish language treasures -- books, magazines, movies, and the like. Many, but not all, of those movies even have English subtitles.

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