Beginning on Oct. 4 until the 20th, the 17th edition of Pelicula, the Spanish Film Festival, will be featuring the best of contemporary Spanish cinema at Greenbelt 3, UP Diliman and Instituto Cervantes Intramuros.
Presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain, Turespaña, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the 2018 edition of the Spanish Film Festival will screen more than 20 films.
Since its inception in 2002 by Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish Film Festival has been an annual attraction at Greenbelt, and following that tradition, the first leg of the Festival will be held at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas from Oct. 4 to 14, bringing the best of Spanish and Latin American cinema to the local audiences of Makati and the rest of Metro Manila.
Likewise, the Festival has traditionally been graced by the presence of Spanish and Latin American filmmakers. In this edition, Spanish film director Javier Fesser will fly to Manila to open the Festival with his movie Campeones today at 8:00 p.m. at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. The film, chosen as the Spanish entry for the upcoming Oscars, is about a coach in Spain’s top basketball league who gets involved in a car accident and is sentenced to the worst possible punishment for his ego: coaching a group of intellectually-disabled players that have never touched a basketball. Through their innocence, they will teach Marco about the things that really matter.
The line-up of films shows a list of genres ranging from romance (Los amores cobardes) and comedy (Campeones, Hacerse mayor y otros problemas, Mi querida cofradía) to documentary (Dancing Beethoven), adventure (Oro), children animation (Atrapa la bandera), adult animation (Memorias de un hombre en pijama), and drama (La novia).
Aside from its line-up of movies in different genres, Pelicula also shows Latin American cinema with feature films from Argentina (The Summit, The Last Suit), and Cuba (Últimos días en La Habana).
The Spanish word “película,” which means film, resulted in the Filipino “pelikula”, echoing the cultural ties shared by the Philippines and Spain. In line with this spirit, since its first editions, the Festival has aimed to put up joint Filipino-Spanish programs.
On Oct. 12, Pelicula 2018 will offer in collaboration with Cut Print Productions the program Encuentros en el cine: Shorts from the Philippines and Spain. The program will feature ten recent Spanish shorts and will also premiere two Filipino short films—The Gathering, by Arvin Belarmino, and actor Xian Lim’s A Love Story, his first attempt behind the camera.
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.