From October 9 to 19, PELÍCULA-PELIKULA, the Spanish Film Festival, will be featuring the best and brightest of contemporary Spanish cinema at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. Presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain-AECID, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the 2014 edition of the Spanish Film Festival will screen around 20 films. Ticket price is P100 and can be purchased from Greenbelt Cinemas.
Here are the lineup and complete schedule of films for this year's festival:
Vivir es facil con los ojos cerrados
Synopsis:
Antonio, a fanatic of The Beatles, is a professor who teaches the English language using songs from his favourite band. When he found out that his idol, John Lennon, is in Almería for a film, he takes on a trip to meet the star. Before meeting his idol, Antonio picks up along the way Juanjo, a 16 year old boy who ran away from home, and Belén, a young lady who apparently is also running from something.
Director: David Trueba
Duration: 108 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 9 – 7:00pm
October 10 – 7:00pm
October 18 – 9:30pm
Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi
Synopsis:
Two jobless men commits and robbery and is fleeing the pursuit of the police, and also the ex-wife of one of the two. They run away to the thick forest of Navarra and fall into the clutches of a group of human flesh eating women.
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Duration: 112 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 10 – 12:00am
October 14 – 9:30pm
October 18 – 12:00am
Madrid 1987
Synopsis:
The story takes place inside a bathroom of a friend’s flat where Miguel, an old cynical journalist, and Ángela, a student who admires him, get accidentally locked in. Through their conversations full of sexual tension, they discover each other and the deep rift between their visions of the world.
Director: David Trueba
Duration: 104 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 10 – 9:30pm
Soldados de Salamina
Synopsis:
A novelist tracks the story of Rafael Sánchez Mazas, a writer and a falangist, who was shot with fifty other prisoners but managed to escape and hide in the woods. She finds out that the tasked soldier encounters him in the forest, but lets him escape. The writer then goes back to writing to put back the puzzle pieces of full of contradictions and mysterious characters. With all her work, she isn´t aware that not only is she seeking the truth of Rafael´s story, but is also searching for her own.
Director: David Trueba
Duration: 119 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 10 – 4:30pm
La gran familia española
Synopsis:
A comical backdrop for a family wedding is set by the soccer final of the World Cup 2010 between Spain and Netherlands. As the whole nation holds its breath, the five biblically named children of the family, Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, and Ephraim, also hold their breath for the biggest game of their lives, which is the twist and turns in what they call love and life.
Director: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
Duration: 101 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 11 – 11:00pm
October 14 – 7:00pm
October 19 – 9:30pm
Mapa
Synopsis:
A young director is fired off his job from a television company. In pursuit of his dreams, despite the situation, he flies to India with his plans of making his first big feature. He soon discovers that he is not in India but in Madrid. Filmed over several years with a very limited budget, this “film-diary” is the narration of the everyday life of the filmmaker.
Director: León Siminiani
Duration: 85 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 11 – 7:00pm
October 13 – 9:30pm
October 16 – 7:00pm
Todas las mujeres
Synopsis:
This is the story of a veterinarian named Nacho, who is about to face all the significant women in his life. Nacho faces his lover, his mother, the psychologist, a colleague, his ex-girlfriend, and his sister-in-law, to put into resolution every issue that they all face.
Director: Mariano Barroso
Duration: 90 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 11 – 9:30pm
October 17 – 7:00pm
Canibal
Synopsis:
Carlos is the most prestigious tailor of Granada, and a respectable man. His passion is for work and for all the food, and also for women he doesn´t know, without any emotional attachment. The tides turn when he meets a Romanian girl named Nina, who is in search for her lost twin sister who disappeared just a few days ago.
Director: Manuel Martín cuenca
Duration: 116 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 11 – 12:00am
October 17 – 12:00am
2 francos, 40 pesetas.
Director: Carlos Iglesias
Duration: 100 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 11 – 4:30pm
October 17 – 4:30pm
October 18 – 2:00pm
Las adventuras de Tadeo Jones
Synopsis:
Confused with a famous archaeologist, Tadeo Jones, together with his faithful dog Jeff, is sent to Peru for an expedition. Along with a mute parrot and two friends, he will try to save the lost city of the Incas against an evil company of treasure hunters.
Director: Enrique Gato
Duration: 90 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 12 – 2:00pm
October 19 – 2:00pm
10000 noches en ninguna parte
Synopsis:
This is about a young man who has been living three parallel lives in three different cities: A monotonous life burdened by an alcoholic, possessive mother in Madrid. In Paris, a romantic life with an extravagant woman. Finally in Berlin in a flat with a painter that could be a story about new sexual relations.
Director: Ramón Salazar
Duration: 113 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 12 – 9:30pm
October 18 – 4:30pm
La vida inesperada
Synopsis:
Juanito is an actor who went to New York with the purpose to succeed. Years passed but still success has not come, and now he earns only what he can. One day he visits his cousin, who apparently is a success that has everything that one can ask for. However, with them living together, both will discover the reality behind each one´s story.
Director: Jorge Torregrosa
Duration: 105 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 12 – 7:00pm
October 17 – 9:30pm
October 19 – 4:30pm
Bypass
Synopsis:
An economist based in Barcelona is involved in difficult emotional dilemmas between his girlfriend, who is pregnant, and a childhood friend, with a heart condition, with whom he declared his love for because he was convinced that she was going to die. The situation is then complicated when his childhood friend miraculously recovers, and he is forced to pretend that he loves her.
Director: Aitor Mazo, Patxo Tellería
Duration: 98 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 12 – 4:30pm
October 15 – 7:00pm
Espantapájaros (Scarecrow)
Synopsis:
A 52-minute documentary directed by Ricardo Conde de la Cerda, revolves around Tapia Catalan or "El Sapo," as he is known in the village. He lives alone in a small house on the mountain reed. His days, usually solitary and contemplative, have driven him to develop a complex inner world. The camera follows him through one of his days working as a scarecrow.. A documentary of the daily life of “El Sapo”, a solitary man and human scarecrow in the rice fields in southern Mexico. Through this unique character, Conde manages to weave the complex process of rice cultivation into El Sapo’s life.
Director: Ricardo del Conde
Duration: 53 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 13 – 4:30pm
La cebra (Zebra)
Synopsis:
Two bandits mistake a zebra for an American horse while looking to align themselves with Álvaro Obregón's troops. Leandro and Odon want to join Alvaro Obregon's revolutionary forces. To do so, they travel to the north of the country on a zebra found in a rundown circus, believing that it is a gringo horse. They have several adventures during their journey: they escape from a woman who enslaves them, they meet General Quesada, who wants to found a New Republic, they get lost in the desert, etc. When they reach Obregon's army, a colonel thinks they are Villa's spies and puts Leandro and Odon to a hard test of loyalty. Two bandits eager to join the revolutionary forces of Alvaro Obregon and the adventures they have had to go through to achieve their goal.
Director: Fernando Javier León Rodríguez
Duration: 94 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 15 – 4:30pm
Implacable (Relentless)
Synopsis:
Max is a teenager who imagines himself as an implacable ladies man who can get any girl he wants. His life will take a 180º turn when he takes Dan, a smart, athletic and handsome twenty-something, under his wing and teaches him everything he knows. None of them imagined that this would make them compete for the affection of the same girl.
Director: Carlos Garcia Campillo
Duration: 75 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 14 – 4:30pm
Bertsolari
Synopsis:
The “bertsolari” is a type of minstrel that sings and improvises verses in Basque. This oral tradition has adapted and evolved according to the times of the younger generations. An art of austere aesthetics that surprises this age of spectacle and special effects.
Director: Asier Altuna
Duration: 90 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 13 – 7:00pm
Azul intangible
Synopsis:
A journey over and about the sea that portrays the diversity and charm of the seas Mexican northwest.
Director: Erendira Valle
Duration: 70 minutes
Screening schedule:
October 13 – 4:30pm
Full schedule:
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