Wazzup Pilipinas!
On October 23 and 24, Instituto Cervantes will be holding the second leg of the PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival, now on its 18th edition, at Cine Adarna, UP Diliman. A selection of films from the first stint of the Festival will be screened in their original Spanish version with subtitles in English. Tickets are free of charge.
The Festival will kick off on October 23, at 5pm with Salvador Simó’s animated film Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles). Combining animation with actual footage of Luis Buñuel’s groundbreaking documentary Tierra sin pan (Land Without Bread), this movie depicts the filming process of the said documentary in 1932, in the county of Las Hurdes in Extremadura, Spain. Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles was preselected by the Spanish Film Academy for the upcoming Oscars.
At 7pm, the Argentinean black comedy El cuento de las comadrejas (The Weasels’ Tale), which won the “Premio del Público / Audience Choice Award” of PELICULA 2019, will be presented. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Juan José Campanella, this movie is loaded with caustic humor, revolving around the lives of four legends of cinema who are past their prime.
On October 24, at 5pm, the Festival will continue with the multi-awarded Spanish drama directed by Lino Escalera in 2017 No sé decir adiós (Can’t Say Goodbye). The film is about a daughter and her estranged father, both of whom cannot accept his impending death.
Lastly, at 7pm, the film series will conclude with the screening of Isabel Coixet’s latest film, Elisa y Marcela (2019). Based on a true story, the movie tells about two women who attempted to get married in Galicia, Spain, at the beginning of the 20th century. To achieve it, one of them had to adopt a male identity. It was the first same-sex marriage in Spain after the age of the Roman Empire.
During its first leg at Greenbelt 3, PELÍCULA 2019 offered a line-up of films ranging from romance (Elisa y Marcela) and comedy (El mejor verano de mi vida, Litus, Matar a Dios) to drama (Quién te cantará), thriller (El reino, 70 Binladens), animation (Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles), and documentary (Apuntes para una película de atracos). Aside from its line-up of movies in different genres, PELÍCULA’s first leg also showed Latin American cinema with feature films from Argentina (Mi obra maestro, El ángel), and Colombia (El Piedra).
After its UP Diliman stint, PELÍCULA 2019 will come to a close with two more selection series in Iloilo and Davao.
PELÍCULA 2019 is presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain, AECID, the UP Film Institute, UPFI Film Center, TurEspaña, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), PELÍCULA is made possible by Rustan’s, The PTC Group of Companies, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in The Philippines - La Cámara, UP Círculo Hispánico, TBA Studios, Netflix, and the Spanish restaurants La Picara, Barcino, Bar Pintxos, Tapella, and Pablo Bistro.
For the schedule, line-up of films and further information on the Festival, please visit the Facebook page of Instituto Cervantes: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
