NOVEMBER 14 , FRIDAY AT 8PM

Under the Stars

(Félix Viscarret, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 107min)
Director In Attendance!
Opening Night Reception!

Director of several internationally acclaimed short films, Félix Viscarret easily makes the transition to features with this offbeat, delicately observed tale that swept the major prizes at this year’s Spanish national film festival in Malaga. Benito Lacunza (Alberto San Juan) is a mediocre trumpet player eking out a living when he gets word that his father has died. Back home, he reconnects with his brother Lalo, a sculptor and former alcoholic who has struggled to get straight. Lalo is planning to marry Nines, which Benito is against — until he meets Nines’ daughter Ainara (Violeta Rodriguez), an introverted child with whom Benito creates a most unusual friendship. Viscarret elegantly captures the feeling of small-town life, with its suspicions, jealousies and sense that everyone knows everybody else’s business. San Juan is excellent as Benito: just the right combination of big-city snobbery and barely concealed vulnerability. In her first major role, Rodriguez is a revelation.

NOVEMBER 15 - 16, SATURDAY AT 7PM, SUNDAY AT 7:15PM

Me

(Rafa Cortés, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 100 min)

Named “Revelation of the Year” by FIPRESCI, the international association of film critics at Cannes 2007, Me is the story of a man who, suspecting he is to be accused of something he hasn’t done, sets out to prove an innocence that nobody yet questions.

Every attempt to correct this mistake leads him closer to the real problem: himself. Set on Majorca island, the atmosphere is supported by strange characters, suspicious looks, and a surreally nightmarish climate. They begin to build into an unsettling and meticulously crafted drama. Rafa Cortés’ burgeoning talent is undeniable, creating a palpable atmosphere with the help of Alex Brendemühl’s (who co-wrote the film) brilliant performance.

NOVEMBER 15 – 16, SATURDAY AT 9PM, SUNDAY AT 9PM

Seven Billiard Tables

(Gracia Querejeta, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 113 min)

Upon receiving news that her father is ill, Angela (Maribel Verdú), and her son Guille, travel to the capital. She arrives too late, and learns from her father’s long–time girlfriend, Charo (Blanca Portillo), that the family billiard business is far from good. Over the years, it has lost style, clients, and money. Angela decides to take over the business and try to turn it around. Seven Billiard Tables displays a superb narrative that leads us to a simple and perfect ending. Nominated for 10 Goyas (Spanish Cinema Awards) and 9 Spanish Critics Circle Awards, the film is a showcase of magnificent performances by Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Blanca Portillo (Volver). It is also proof of Gracia Querejeta’s rich talent, crowning her as one of the most interesting yet solid filmmakers working today.

NOVEMBER 15 – 16, SATURDAY – SUNDAY AT 5PM

ShortMetraje

This is a year of unparalleled creativity for Spanish short filmmakers. In a cloud of turmoil and hallucinatory imagination, these directors present their wildest hopes and dreams in different forms, from experimental plays to shouts of happiness. Free from any convention, this year’s artists have undressed their souls and minds. Come enjoy the journey!.

LIBRA (4 min) Carlota Coronado
Carlota reports strongly about everyday issues creating a high impact in this very short film. This is a very short film with a great impact Two weeks. That's what Librao's main character asks for.

SAIDA'S JOURNEY (12 min.) Coke Riobao
Said, a Moroccan boy crosses The Straights. On the other side, in the land of opportunity, he discovers the world. This film was nominated to the Goyao Awards as Best Short Animation.

SUMMER OR THE FLAWS OF ANDRAS - (22 min.) Jorge Torregrosa
It is Summer and it is hot. Andres and Sara have known each other for a short time. Felix and Silvia have been together for five years. The two couples spend a summer day around a swimming pool. As always in Torregrosa's astonishing work, human nature is one more character and his unique look makes us wonder about our own condition.

THE HAPPY MAN (14 min.) Lucina Gil
Gil's keen eye responds to this daring and good humores question: Does the Happy Man Exist?

MACHINE (16 min.) Gabe Ibaatez
Through pain and confusion a girl discovers his new nature, finding the way to achieve the lost harmony.

TRAUMATOLOGY (22 min.) Daniel Sa¡nchez Aragvalo
Helmer Daniel Sainchez Aragvalo gives us once again an assured and captivating tragicomedy. Today is a great day. Antonio is getting married. But an unexpected event force all the family to spend the wedding night at the hospital.

NOVEMBER 16 – 17, SUNDAY AT 7PM, MONDAY AT 9:15PM

In The City of Sylvia

(José Luis Guerin, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 90 min)
Director Expected To Attend!

José Luis Guerín nimbly brings moviemaking and moviegoing back to some of their lovely early pleasures in his masterful In the City of Sylvia. He is so successful at modernizing and rarefing these elements that it forces one to reconsider the dialogue and special effects in other films as clutter. In the City of Sylvia is an everyday, yet sublime, vision, one so exquisite you’d think that everything Guerín looks at—the city of Strasbourg, its flaneurs and shops, even the sun that shines on it-was created for the loving gaze of his camera. The story also evokes the most blessed moments of a New Wave work like Agnès Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7. During a few languid summer days, a young foreigner spends his afternoons sketching in an outdoor café. He is looking for a woman named Sylvia who he’d met years before in the same city. He is also sketching the many attractive young women he sees everywhere, any one of whom could be her. Then one afternoon, thinking he’s actually seen her, he sets off through the city to confront his memory. Guerín’s graceful work eloquently captures the feeling of being in love with love, and the youthful sense of a world filled with an almost limitless sensuality.

NOVEMBER 17 – 18, MONDAY AT 7PM, TUESDAY AT 9:15PM

Mataharis

(Icíar Bollaín, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 95 min)

No other Spanish filmmaker bravely portrays the untouchable issues concerning Spanish contemporary society better than Icíar Bollaín. Her previous feature Take My Eyes won every major Goya award. Now, Mataharis was nominated in six categories, including Best Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Bollaín dives into the lives of three private investigators. Ines (Maria Vazquez) is working undercover at a corporation, ostensibly to weed out corruption but actually to report on workers’ efforts to unionize. Eva (Najwa Nimri), recently back at work after maternity leave, struggles to juggle her caseload with family life, when she accidentally discovers a secret her partner has long kept from her. Carmen (Nuria González), investigating a case of adultery, starts reflecting on her own loveless marriage.

NOVEMBER 18 – 19, TUESDAY AT 7PM, WEDNESDAY AT 9:15PM

Solitary Fragments

(Jaime Rosales, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 128 min)

The beautifully nuanced performances of both Sonia Almarcha and Petra Martínez, as well as director Rosales’ keen ability to portray isolation and beauty in the apparently mundane world, makes Solitary Fragments a supreme delicacy not to be missed. Having premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard section, the film swept three Goyas (Spanish Cinema Awards), including Best Picture and Best Director. Adela lives a quiet life in rural Spain with her son Miguelito. Hoping for more from life, she moves with her son to Madrid, where they share an apartment with a couple, Ines and Carlos. Stylish yet thoughtful and far from melodrama, the film takes you by the hand towards an ending difficult to forget.

NOVEMBER 19 – 20, WEDNESDAY AT 7PM, THURSDAY AT 9PM

Septembers

(Carles Bosch, Spain, 2007, 35mm, 120 min)

For the incarcerated participants of the 2005 Festival of Song, singing love songs is not merely entertainment. It is also a poignant reminder of the people they left behind. Carles Bosch, director of the Oscar–nominated Balseros, follows four men and four women in prison. Spanning a year-from September to September, between one festival and the next—the film portrays their love stories. Despite the hostile environment, this film displays extraordinary emotion and it is an inspiration to all who watch it. With major accomplishments already under its belt (shortlisted for the Best Feature Documentary IDA Awards–International Documentary Association and nominated as Best Documentary in the Joris Ivens Competition at IDFA), Bosch’s sympathetic and at times humorous vision delights us with the question, can a documentary capture the true essence of love?

NOVEMBER 19 – 20, WEDNESDAY AT 7:15PM, THURSDAY AT 7PM

Le Chant des Oiseaux

(Albert Serra, Spain, 2008, 35mm, 98 min)

Have you ever thought of the Three Kings’ relationship to one another while they traversed the world’s deserts in search of Christ? Albert Serra, whose previous film Honor de Cavalleria/Quixotic was named “one of the best 10 films of 2008” by Cahiers du Cinéma, is back with a film even more beautiful and crazy than his debut. Displaying freely his own vision about the classic myth of the Nativity, the film is beautifully crafted and contemplative, with impressive views and photograph–like cinematography to satisfy the most demanding eye. This exercise about the essence of cinema held rank with the films of major importance at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. Even so, the Three Kings are so human they will make you smile.