London Spanish Film Festival 6th Spring Weekend it is here bringing UK premieres and special previews as well as veteran film-makers Fernando Colomo, Félix Sabroso and Julio Medem, who will come from Spain to talk to audiences about their most recent works. The screenings will take place at Ciné Lumière and The May Fair Theatre at The May Fair Hotel. Save the dates! From 14th to 17th April 2016.
London Spanish Film Festival 6th Spring Weekend it is here bringing UK premieres and special previews as well as veteran film-makers Fernando Colomo, Félix Sabroso and Julio Medem, who will come from Spain to talk to audiences about their most recent works. The screenings will take place at Ciné Lumière and The May Fair Theatre at The May Fair Hotel. Save the dates! From 14th to 17th April 2016.
TRUMAN
TRUMAN
Dir. Cesc Gay, with Ricardo Darín, Javier Cámara, Dolores Fonzi, Àlex Brendemühl | Spain/Argentina | 2015 | 108 min | col | cert. 12 | Special preview courtesy of Studio Canal
A success at the last edition of Spain’s Goya Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor for Darín, Best Supporting Actor for Cámara and Best Original Screenplay), Cesc Gay’s is a drama with comedy tinges (or vice versa) about two friends enjoying some time together in the shadow of impending death. Julián, outstandingly played by Darín, is an actor trying to tidy up his life before leaving. Tomás, a perfectly effective counterpoint performance by Cámara, has travelled all the way from Canada to spend some time with him and perhaps convince him to resume his treatment.
Thursday 14 April | 6.30pm | Ciné Lumière
Nothing in return
A CAMBIO DE NADA
Nothing in return
Dir. Daniel Guzmán, with Miguel Herrán, Antonio Bachiller, Antonia Guzmán, Luis Tosar | Spain | 2015 | 93 min | col | cert. 12 | UK premiere Darío, a bright and good-natured teenager, sees how his family is disintegrating while spending his time with his best friend, Luismi, playing around and stealing car parts which they can re-sell to the always optimistic mechanic Justo. When he escapes home and meets the elderly Antonia, who rifles through trash cans looking for junk to sell later at the flea market, he starts to create a very peculiar but loving alternate family. Guzmán’s début film is a wonderful and vibrant portrait of two working class teenagers and their context, charged with a fresh sense of humour, warmth and cheerfulness. The film won Best Film and Best Director at the 2015 Malaga Spanish Film Festival.
The film will be followed by a Q&A (tbc)
Friday 15 April | 8.50pm | Ciné Lumière
ISLA BONITA
ISLA BONITA
Dir. Fernando Colomo, with Olivia Delcán, Lilian Caro, Miguel Ángel Furones, Fernando Colomo, Nuria Román | Spain | 2015 | 101 min | col | cert. 15 | UK premiere
Veteran Fernando Colomo comes back with his usual subtle sense of humour in a sharp film about a mature publicist struggling with modern times and new generations of women, who travels to Menorca invited by his friend Miguel Ángel. There he meets new unconventional people and makes new friends – something that gives him a new perspective on life. The fact that the film was shot without pre-existing dialogues and was based on improvisation contributes to its oozing irony and freshness. The film will be followed by an on-stage conversation between the director and Prof. Peter Evans
Saturday 16 April | 6.30pm | Ciné Lumière
Age of Monsters
EL TIEMPO DE LOS MONSTRUOS
Age of Monsters
Dir. Félix Sabroso, with Javier Cámara, Candela Peña, Carmen Machi, Pilar Castro | Spain | 2015 | 97 min | col | cert. 12 | UK premiere
Víctor is a film-maker who has never released any of his films. In front of his impending death, he gathers in his superb mansion his most trusted collaborators: his scriptwriter, an actress, a designer, his wife… and the house staff. Together they will create his posthumous work. The coexistence is anything but peaceful: frictions between the characters highlight frustrations, anxieties and ambitions and identities become a blur as time goes on… Nothing in Sabroso’s film is obvious nor gratuitous. A superb exercise in style that, with its intrigue, will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director
Sunday 17 April | 4.10pm | Ciné Lumière
MA MA
MA MA
Dir. Julio Medem, with Penélope Cruz, Luis Tosar, Àlex Brendemühl, Asier Etxeandia | Spain/France | 2015 | 111 min | col | cert. 12 | UK premiere courtesy of Metrodome
Medem’s latest film revolves around the difficulties faced by a mother battling with breast cancer and the increasing strong friendship based on mutual support with soccer scout Arturo, played by an always outstanding Tosar, who has just suffered a family tragedy. Medem, whose other works have always been provocative, maintains here a sense of style and poetry very much his own. Cruz, who is also one of the producers of the film, delivers here a strongly realistic and nuanced performance – perhaps one of her finest.
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director
Sunday 17 April | 7.00pm | The May Fair Theatre at The May Fair Hotel, Stratton St, London W1J 8LT
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Official Website: www.londonspanishfilmfestival.com/6th-spring-weekend/index.html