Mujeres de cine film series 2018

The NMMWA, AFI Silver Theatre and the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain host the “Mujeres de Cine Film Series,” a traveling film showcase dedicated to promoting Spanish films and short films made by women.

As part of Films Across Borders, Mujeres de Cine returns to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the best cinema created by Spanish women with the screenings of Dancing Beethoven, Most Beautiful Island, Júlia Ist and Summer 1993.

Most Beautiful Island

• On Tuesday, October 9 at 6:30 pm. Q&A with filmmaker Ana Asensio. Free, RSVP required.
• At the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), 1250 New York Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
• Directed by Ana Asensio, Spain / USA, 2017, 80 minutes.
• In English and Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Most Beautiful Island is a psychological thriller set in the world of undocumented female immigrants hoping to make a life in New York City. Shot on Super 16mm with an intimate, voyeuristic sensibility, the film chronicles one harrowing day in the life of Luciana, a young immigrant woman struggling to make ends meet while striving to escape her past. As Luciana’s day unfolds, she is whisked, physically and emotionally, through a series of troublesome and unforeseeable extremes. Before her day is done, she inadvertently finds herself a central participant in a cruel game where lives are placed at risk, and psyches are twisted and broken for the perverse entertainment of a privileged few.

Julia Ist

• On Tuesday, November 6 at 7:15 pm. Q&A with Marta Cruañas, producer and screenwriter. Buy tickets.
• At AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD.
• Directed by Elena Martin, Spain, 2017, 90 minutes.
• In Spanish, Catalan and German with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Júlia, a 21-year-old architecture student from Barcelona, decides to spend an Erasmus grant study-abroad year in Berlin. Once there, in a cold, gray city, alone for the first time, she must compare her expectations –and her own self-perceptions– with reality.

Dancing Beethoven

• On Thursday, November 29 at 6:45 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• At the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, 2801 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
• Directed by Arantxa Aguirre, Spain / Switzerland, 2016, 79 minutes.
• In French, Russian, Japanese and Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

This 2016 documentary by Arantxa Aguirre is an immersive look at the staging of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the Béjart Ballet of Lausanne, France. The Béjart troupe dances with the Tokyo Ballet with music by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Israel. The international collaboration creates a spellbinding performance of movements that give physical expression to four movements from Ludwig van Beethoven’s classical masterpiece composed between 1822 and 1824.

Summer 1993

• On Tuesday, December 4 at 6:45 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• At the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, 2801 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
• Directed by Carla Simón, Spain, 2017, 96 minutes.
• In Catalan and Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Six-year-old Frida looks on in silence as the last objects from her recently deceased mother’s apartment are placed in boxes. Although her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin Anna welcome her with open arms, it’s only very slowly that Frida begins to get used to her new home in the countryside. Striking a careful balance between narrative and atmosphere, writer-director Carla Simon paints a vivid portrait of a light-filled summer when a little girl has to face the loss of her mother and integration into a new nuclear family.