L.A. OLA

A showcase of the most outstanding and innovative films from Spain in Los Angeles.

L.A. OLA is a showcase of the most outstanding and innovative independent contemporary films from Spain featuring the work of a new generation of filmmakers who are part of a creative renaissance of undeniable force and an historic moment in Spanish cinema history.

On September 20 at the Egyptian Theater

• Opening at the Egyptian Theater. Presented by Los Angeles Filmforum.
• At 4 pm – Panel: Independent Cinema Distribution and Outreach.
• At 5:30 pm – Screening of Costa da Morte, by Lois Patiño (Q&A with the director). Documentary, Spain, 2013, 81 minutes. In Galician and Spanish. Watch trailer.
  A touching, hypnotic essay on the relationship between a landscape and its people, Coast of Death depicts a region in Galicia, Spain, which earned its name from the many men and women who have lost their lives to its sea. With this subtle, breathtakingly beautiful and lyrical homage to his homeland, Patiño won the prestigious Best Upcoming Director award at the Locarno Film Festival.
• At 7:40 pm – Opening cocktail party.
• At 9 pm – Screening La plaga by Neus Ballus, 2013, 84 minutes. Carefully intertwining a series of minimal personal stories, The Plague offers a moving portrait of life on the outskirts of Barcelona. A Filipino nurse, an aging woman, a Moldavian wrestler and a local farmer, among others, illustrate the uncertainty and the rebellious spirit that underlies contemporary Spain in the throes of the global economic crisis. Filmed with non-actors over a four year period, Ballus uses real-life characters and their daily struggles to construct this rich social portrait.

On Saturday 26 at the Echo Park Film Center

• At 1 pm – Master Class with director Laida Lertxundi.
• At 5 pm – Screening of Ärtico, by Gabriel Velázquez.
  A hypnotic fresco of contemporary provincial Spain, the film portraits two young crooks with contradictory needs: the lonely freedom of adventure against the desire to form a family. A mesmerizing exercise on stylistic and narrative restraint, ÄRTICO is not afraid to deal with the violence and sexism of its main characters (including drug trafficking, stealing pigs and horses, killing birds, destroying cars) creating a unique contrast with the beautiful nature that the characters life in. Winner of the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale 2014.
• At 7:30 pm. Screening of Amor Eterno, by Marçal Forés.
  “Can eternal love exist?” asks this movie from its documentary style introduction. The film responds to this question with an unexpected trip between the romantic dram and the darkest thriller. Set in the world of gay cruising that takes place in the park of Montjuic in Barcelona, the movie follows a dark romance between a school language teacher and his student.

On Sunday 27

• At 1 pm – Master Class by the director Lois Patiño.
• At 5 pm – Screening of Slimane, by José Alayón.
  In a modern turnout of the Spanish narrative genre of the picaresque, Slimane follows the adventures of an immigrant teenager that has to survive in a foreign land against constant obstacles. Without a job or a fixed residence, Slimane and his friends confront the difficulties of modern immigration. Alayón walks beautifully the line between fiction and documentary, succeeding to create a sensual portrait of this group of teenagers without patronizing or falling into the clichés of the coming of age genre.
• At 7 pm – Screening of Las Altas presiones, by Ángel Santos (Q&A with the director).
  The director himself has defined this film as sort of “a conversation between friends in which they all talk at the same time and in the same tone about personal relationships, the frustrations and joys of life and the Spanish economic crisis.” The film follows a broken hearted aspiring filmmaker in his late thirties, who is forced to travel back to his hometown to execute a location scout for somebody else’s movie. Through a week of encounters with old and new friends and a familiar landscape, the film offers a sweet and sour radiography of the fears, obsessions and existential doubts of a generation in such a specific way that has earned the director a reputation as a “Spanish Hong Sang-Soo.”
• At 9:30 pm – Closing cocktail and party.