Spanish cinema comes to Manila

MANILA, Philippines – International cinema is now seen to be more inclusive and accepting of creations from all over the globe. Bollywood, for example, has established itself as a category all its own, steadily earning recognition from outside India. Perhaps what aids this Hollywood contraflow is the rise of numerous film festivals that recognize brilliance of independent and non-mainstream producers.

Similarly, Spanish cinema has begun creating its own distinct style and is now peaking towards a whole new cinematic identity.

The Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, Instituto Cervantes de Manila, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) give us the chance to experience this with The Best of Spanish Cinema, a series of film screenings that will take place every month beginning April at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Films showcased are award-winning representations of the thematic and creative variety Spanish cinema has established through the years. Most films are recognized by The Goya Awards, established on March 16, 1987 at the Lope de Vega Theatre in Madrid to award the best Spanish films in different categories.

Animation, shorts, and award-winning films are to be screened from April to July 2013 at the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde.

Animation

Spanish cinema boasts of its unconventional take on animated films. Featured films for the Animation category are not run-of-the-mill cartoons on television; rather, they are moving and emotional visualizations of universal human experiences.

Fall head over heels with 2012 Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature Film “Chico y Rita” (2010) as “two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love.” Witness love and dreams unfold as the film takes viewers to Havana, New York, Paris, Hollywood, and Las Vegas.

View death through a different lens, albeit with the same intensity in 2011’s “Arrugas” (Wrinkles), a moving tale about friendship and life set in the confines of an elderly care facility. Based on Paco Roca’s comics of the same title and winner of the 2008 Spanish National Comic Prize, “Arrugas” is a dramatic yet humorous take on growing old and nearing death yet still embarking on new beginnings.

Watch the trailer of ‘Arrugas’ here:

The film was awarded Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2012 Spanish Goya Awards and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2012 Annie Awards, the highest honor given to excellence in animation.

Madrid en Corto (award-winning shorts)

The festival also aims to distribute selected short movies produced in Madrid. Madrid en Corto is a platform for promoting new directors and producers in international festivals and film events.

Works by directors Abdelatif Hwidar (“Salvador”) and Natalia Mateo (“Ojos que no ven”) which have been nominated in the Spanish Goya Awards as Best Short Fiction Films, and which took part in the Berlin International Film Festival are to be featured. Beatriz Sanchis’ “Mi otra mitad” will also be screened.

The ‘Best of Spanish Cinema’

The “Best of Spanish Cinema” showcases a selection of the Goya Award-winning films of the past few years.

The emotional story of 2009’s Best Film “Camino” (“The Way”) by Javier Fresser is is based on the real-life story of Alexia González-Barros, a girl beaten by spinal cancer at 14 in 1985 and who is currently in process of canonization.

Best Film of 2010 “Celda 211” (“Cell 211”), a multi-awarded film by Daniel Monzón, is a montage of riot and turmoil as prisoners engange in massive demonstrations with a newly-appointed police officer trapped in the middle of the chaos.

Experience the misery of the Spanish Civil War in 2011’s Best Film “Pa Negre” (“Black Bread”) by Agustí Villaronga, depicting post-war Spain where a young boy is forced to defend his family but instead discovers his dark side.

Lastly, be on the edge of your seat with “No habrá paz para los malvados” (“No Rest for the Wicked”) by Enrique Urbizu, a thriller based on a terrorist bombing in Madrid.

Here is the complete film screening schedule:

11 April, Thursday – Animation

• 4:00 pm: Chico y Rita 
• 7:00 pm: Atención al cliente 
• Arrugas

9 May, Thursday – Madrid en Corto (award-winning shorts)

4:00 pm 

• Mi otra mitad – 18 min
• Cuadrilátero – 16 min
• Elena quiere – 19 min
• Ojos que no ven – 15 min

7:00 pm

• La Clase – 20 min
• Salvador – 11 min
• Ojos que no ven – 15 min
• Mi otra mitad – 18 min

6 June, Thursday – Goya Award winners, Part 1

• 4:00 pm Camino 
• 7:00 pm Celda 211 

27 June, Thursday – Goya Award winners, Part 2

• 4:00 pm Pa Negre 
• 7:00 pm No habrá paz para malvados

– Rappler.com

Admission is free. Tickets are available on a first come first served basis. Call CCP 832-1125 loc 1704 and 1705 or the Embassy of Spain 817-6676 loc 112.