Recent Spanish Cinema 2015
The 21st Annual Film Series Recent Spanish Cinema in Los Angeles will present the most outstanding current Spanish films in the USA.
The annual showcase is a glimpse of Spain’s rich, vibrant and vital films on the big screen that takes place at the emblematic Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. This Seventh Art showcase will feature appearances by leading figures in the Spanish film industry.
Recent Spanish Cinema highlights:
Marshland (La Isla Minima)
- On Thursday, October 15, 2015. Red carpet at 6 pm; presentation, film and discussion with guest TBC at 7 pm, followed by a reception in the Egyptian courtyard for all tickets holders.
- Directed by Alberto Rodriguez, 2014, 105 minutes.
- Original title: La Isla Mínima.
Spain’s democracy was still on wobbly legs in 1980, particularly in the backwater of Andalucia where this tense crime drama is set. City cops Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) and Pedro (Raúl Arévalo) are dispatched to the depressed rural area to investigate the disappearance of two sisters; their differing backgrounds –one a ruthless veteran and the other an idealistic rookie– lead to increasingly unsettling discoveries. Winner of 10 Goya Awards, including Best Film, Director, Lead Actor (Gutiérrez) and Cinematography.
Recent Spanish Cinema Round Table
Join us for a 60-minute panel discussion with filmmakers and actors attending this year’s Recent Spanish Cinema series, moderated by Julian Gutierrez-Albilla, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature, USC and Cristina Martinez, Professor at The Department of Spanish and Portuguese at University of CA, Davis.
- On Friday, October 16 at 5:30 pm.
- At The Spielberg Theatre in the Egyptian Theatre. Free event. First come, first served.
Happy 140
- On Friday, October 16 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Sidetracked below.
- Directed by Gracia Querejeta, 2015, 98 minutes.
- Original title: Felices 140.
Elia (Maribel Verdu) has just hit the jackpot –literally. One of the things she spends her 140 million euro lottery prize on is a 40th birthday bash in the Canary Islands, to which she invites a motley group of family and friends, including the ex she still pines for. But proximity to wealth can warp even the closest relationships, and the reunion soon takes a shocking turn.
Sidetracked
- On Friday, October 16 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Happy 140 above.
- Directed by Alvaro Fernandez Armero, 2014, 103 minutes.
- Original title: Las Ovejas No Pierden El Tren.
The mid-life crises of three Spanish couples provide the laughs in this gleeful ensemble comedy. Luisa (Inma Cuesta of Three Many Weddings) and Alberto (Raúl Arévalo) move to the countryside, thinking it a better place to raise kids, though the change puts a damper on their sex life. Luisa’s sister (Candela Peña) and Alberto’s brother (Alberto San Juan) have their own relationship challenges –her obsessive pursuit scares men away, while his much-younger girlfriend is a little on the impulsive side.
Shrew’s Nest
- On Friday, October 16 at 8 pm. Special screening at Spielberg Theatre, co-presented with Beyond Fest.
- Directed by Juan Fernando Andres and Esteban Roel, 2014, 95 minutes.
- Original title: Musarañas.
First-time feature directors Juan Fernando Andres and Esteban Roel (and producer Alex De La Iglesia) lead viewers through a terrifying psychological maze in 1950s Spain. At its center is the apartment of Montse (Macarena Gómez), who has raised her younger sister to the brink of adulthood. But agoraphobia and religious ritual have taken their toll on Montse, and when an injured young man (Hugo Silva) turns up at the door, help is the last thing she gives him. With Luis Tosar as the spectral father figure.
Requirements to Be a Normal Person
- On Saturday, October 17 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Off Course below.
- Directed by Leticia Dolera, 2015, 90 minutes.
- Original title: Requisitos Para Ser Una Persona Normal
Everybody tries to fit in, but few people go about it as methodically as Maria de la Montana (writer-director Leticia Dolera), who hopes to reach normality through a 7-item checklist. Her mentally challenged younger brother (Jordi Llodra) and overweight friend (Manuel Burque) seem to have most of the bases covered, and the success of Maria’s quest may boil down to just being herself. Brightly colored and boasting a jangly folk score from Luthea Salom, this romantic comedy is, as one might hope from its title, charmingly eccentric. Winner of the Best New Screenwriter, Cinematography and Editing Awards at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival.
Off Course
- On Saturday, October 17 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Requirements to be a normal person above.
- Directed by Nacho G. Velilla, 2015, 102 minutes.
- Original title: Perdiendo el Norte.
Hugo (Yon González) and Braulio (Julián López) both have university degrees but no jobs, and think they can escape the economic doldrums by leaving Spain for Germany. But what looked like a land of opportunity on TV presents more challenges to the two friends than they expected in this sparkling comedy. In Castillan and German with English subtitles. One of the biggest Box office hits in 2015.
Magical Girl
- On Sunday, October 18 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Nothing in Exchange below.
- Directed by Carlos Vermut, 2014, 127 minutes.
Screening of The Wild, The Child & The Miracle, winner of The New filmmakers from Spain short film contest (directed by Carl Robertson, 2014, American Film Institute, 24 minutes.)
Luis (Luis Bermejo) has a 12-year-old daughter with a terminal illness and a last wish –to have a dress just like the main character of her favorite Japanese anime series. The unemployed professor doesn’t have the money to purchase the dress, but thinks he can get it with a little help from a former teacher (José Sacristán) and an unbalanced young woman (Goya and Feroz winner Bárbara Lennie). Vermut’s sure directorial hand weaves multiple storylines together in this haunting (and occasionally intense) drama.
Nothing in Exchange
- On Sunday, October 18 at 7:30 pm. Double feature with Magical Girl above.
- Directed by Daniel Guzmán, 2015, 93 minutes.
- Original title: A cambio de Nada.
Teen Dario (Miguel Herrán) gets into minor scrapes with lifelong buddy Luismi (Antonio Bachiller) and finds a surrogate family in Madrid with a mechanic and a 90-year-old junk dealer in this Málaga Best Film winner.
“A high-energy, feel-good movie with the warmest of hearts,” says Jonathan Holland from The Hollywood Reporter.