Spanish Cinema Now - and Then

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 02 December 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 19th edition of Spanish Cinema Now runs December 9 - 22, 2011 at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater in Manhattan, New York City.

Spanish Cinema Now is one of the Walter Reade Theater's longest-running series. Since the series premiered in 1992, Spanish cinema has grown not only in output but in influence, popularity, and in launching its own international, household-name stars such as Antonio Banderas, Carmen Maura, and Oscar winners Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Spanish Cinema Now is presented by the Film Society in collaboration with the Spanish Film Institute (ICAA) in Madrid and the Instituto Cervantes in New York.

A special thanks also goes to the Spanish Consulate General in New York for its help in supporting the series over the years.

The series ranges from the latest features and documentaries to older films that straddle the years during and after Franco.

The opening film is Extraterrestrial, directed by Nacho Vigalondo. With this new film, Spain joins the alien invasion movie league with this saga of spaceships hovering in the skies above Madrid.

The event presents a film tribute to Luis García Berlanga, one of Spain’s greatest directors, who passed away a year ago. The selections are:

Welcome Mr. Marshall! / ¡Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall! (1953)
A small Castilian town is put on notice that representatives of the U.S. Marshall Plan Commission will arrive to determine Spain's eligibility for aid following World War II. The good citizens prepare the town to resemble "a picture-perfect tourist fantasy of Spain, complete with women in shawls, clicking castanets, and bullfighters" -- all of which belies their true condition.

The Rocket from Calabuch / Calabuch (1956)
An American nuclear scientist takes refuge in a sleepy seaside town in a Cold War comedy which provokes thought about U.S.-Spanish relations.

The National Shotgun / La escopeta nacional (1978)
A businessman is invited on a hunting party with notables in show business, the military, the Catholic Church, and various hangers-on. This examination of class relations is Berlanga's first post-censorship film, and a great hit that spawned sequels.

Also showing are:

• Everyone Off to Jail (1993)
• The Heifer (1985)
• Life Size (1976)
• Long Live the Bride and Groom (1970) 
• The Executioner (1963)
• Plácido (1961)
• That Happy Couple (1953), co-dir. with Juan Antonio Bardem

Some of the newest Spanish films are:

Crebinsky
dir. Enrique Otero
The brothers Crebinsky are washed out in a flood in 1940s Galicia and their world changes.

Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis
dir. Santiago Segura
The saga of detective José Luis Torrente, the most successful series in Spanish film history, continues with this chapter.

Ispansi
dir. Carlos Iglesias
Near the end of the Spanish Civil War, the Republic sent more than 3,000 children to Russia with caretakers. The relationship was problematic at best, but the Nazi invasion served to bring both hosts and guests to fight together.

23-F
dir. Chema de la Peña
The film relates the story of the 1981 coup attempt by Civil Guards demanding that the King terminate Spain’s newly-emerging democracy.

This is only a sample of the list that promises to delight and inform. Truly, there is not a dud in the bunch. And during the first weekend, several directors and actors will be conducting Q&As including Segura and Vigalondo.

For more information, go to www.filmlinc.com and click on "Spanish Cinema Now".

Spanish Cinema Now
December 9 - 22, 2011

Walter Reade Theater
Film Society of Lincoln Center
165 W. 65th Street
New York City
212-875-5600

• < Prev
• Next >