Award-winning Spanish films featured in 9th Pelicula

Winners or nominees of Hollywood’s Oscar Awards and Spain’s Goya Awards are featured in the ninth edition of Película, the Spanish Film Festival from September 30 to October 10 in Makati this year. Some of the 23 Spanish-language films have also been shown at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain, which is held in September. “Every year, we try to get the best films for the Spanish Film Festival in Manila. We get films that are at the vanguard, films that illustrate new techniques, new ways of doing things. But at the same time, we balance these selections with more traditional films," said Jose Rodriguez, director of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, the festival’s organizer. Headlining Película’s inaugural night on September 29 is El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret of their Eyes), the Argentinian film that won the 2009 Oscar award for best foreign language film. Argentine-born director Juan José Campanella is better known in the United States as the director of television shows such as House, Law & Order, and 30 Rock. Prior engagements prevented Campanella from inaugurating his film in Manila, according to José María Fons of the Cultural Section of the Instituto Cervantes. Encuentro with Spanish film makers On September 30, two films written by Spanish journalist Lola Mayo will be shown. La mujer sin piano (Woman without Piano) documents 24 hours in the life of a woman with a hearing problem, who escapes one night to discover its secrets. In Lo que sé de Lola (What I Know about Lola), a lonely man’s monotonous life is disrupted when Dolores (or Lola) moves in next door. Both films were directed by Javier Rebollo.

On October 3, film director and university professor Isaki Lacuesta will present two of his films. Los condenados (The Condemned) is about two former guerrilla fighters who meet again after 30 years to search for the remains of a third friend. La leyenda del tiempo (The Legend of Time) is a documentary about flamenco. A gypsy boy refuses to follow family tradition and become a cantaor or flamenco singer; instead, he dreams of moving as far away as he can. On the other hand, a Japanese woman moves all the way to southern Spain to learn flamenco. Spanish director Manuel Albaladejo will premiere three of his four festival films on October 7. Rencor (Rancour) is about a club singer who encounters a former lover after 10 years while Nacidas para sufrir (Born to Suffer) is about an old woman whose only hope for company in her old age is a long-time assistant. In El cielo abierto (Ten Days without Love), Miguel realizes that having his wallet stolen could be the solution to all his problems. Albaladejo’s fourth film is the 1999 hit movie, Manolito Gafotas, about a boy from a humble section of Madrid whose usually absent truck driver dad shows up to take the family to the beach for the summer, which will be shown on October 2. Focus on Latin America Four of the festival nights will highlight films from four Latin American countries: Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. October 1 is the Peruvian night or Noche andina. La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow), 2009 Oscar nominee for best foreign language film, won the top prize at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival. The film’s title refers to the rare illness of children whose mothers were raped by the military in the 1990s. The trauma experienced by mothers is passed on to their children through the milk from their breasts. Pantaleón y las visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the Special Services), about an officer who leads a brigade of prostitutes to appease a group of discontented soldiers stationed in the Amazon, will be shown during the sesión golfa or midnight screening. Argentinian films will be the focus on October 4. In addition to El secreto de sus ojos, an earlier Campanella film will be shown: Luna de Avellaneda (Avellaneda’s Moon), about a social, cultural and sports club that has seen better days. The founders’ descendants have been given an offer to convert it into a casino. Bolivia tells the story of a Bolivian immigrant in Argentina who learns that life in Buenos Aires is not the paradise that he imagined it to be. On October 5, two comedies from Chile take center stage beginning with El chacotero sentimental (The Sentimental Teaser), the story of an eccentric radio DJ whose program becomes a hit when he lets anonymous listeners call in to talk about their loves and passions. In Cachimba, a bureaucrat who comes upon the work of an unknown Chilean artist is determined to show it to the world. The Mexican films on October 6 go back in time to early 20th century Mexico. Set in a small village, Otilia Rauda is the story of a girl with a stunning body whose face is marred by an enormous mole. With the Cristero War as a backdrop, the multi-awarded Desierto adentro (The Desert Within) is about a man who devotes his life to building a church to redeem himself from the sin of causing the death of a priest. A goal for Happyland A special feature of the festival will be the October 10 premiere of Happyland, a film by Filipino director Jim Libiran. Set in Tondo, an urban slum in Manila, Happyland tells the story of a Spanish missionary who forms a football team composed of barefoot players that will compete in a tournament against rich boys from a private Catholic school. This is the first Filipino film on football and is the second film of Libiran’s projected Tondo trilogy. The first one was Tribu, a film about the street gangs of Tondo, which won several awards in 2007. The last time that the Spanish Film Festival premiered a Filipino film was in 2003 with the Alessandra de Rossi starrer Barcelona. Schedule for Greenbelt 3, Cinema 1: Provincial showing next year Five more films from Spain round up the 2010 selection of Película. Celda 211 (Cell 211) is the story of two men on opposite sides of a prison riot: the inmate who leads the riot, and the prison guard who pretends to be an inmate in order to survive the riot. Que se mueran los feos (Let the Ugly Ones Die), narrates the attempt of two people to fall in love: the man is ugly, single, and lame while the woman is ugly, divorced, and lacks one breast. In Tres días con la familia (Three Days with the Family) a dysfunctional family comes together for the funeral of their patriarch. Garbo, el hombre que salvó el mundo (Garbo: The Spy) is a documentary about Juan Pujol, a Spanish double agent during World War II who fed false information to the Germans, making possible the D-Day landings in Normandy. Another documentary is Ich bin Enric Marco (I am Enric Marco), about a concentration camp survivor unmasked by a historian who takes a trip back to his alleged past. Film selection is based on the Spanish-language films that are currently making waves around the world. “However, we can’t bring in some good films because we don’t have the budget to acquire the rights or the films are not available because they’re currently showing in San Sebastian or some other festival," explained Fons. The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) is another factor in the film line-up. “The approval of the MTRCB is needed and many times, we only learn at the last minute if the film we plan to show can be shown," Rodriguez said. Next year, Rodriguez says the festival will be brought outside Manila for viewers in the provinces. – YA, GMANews.TV Tickets for Película cost P65 and all films will be screened at the Greenbelt 3 cinemas in Makati. For film synopses and trailers, check out the 9th Spanish Film Festival website.