From guns and laughter to surrealism and drama, the Spanish Film Festival delivers a dazzling array of new and old cinema. Muy Bueno.
Now in its 16th year, the Spanish Film Festival will again delight audiences with a showcase of the best of Spanish and Spanish-speaking Latin American titles.
This year's festival, which drops in on Palace Cinemas in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Byron Bay, will open with A Gun in Each Hand (Una pistola en cada mano). Despite the shoot-em-up title, the 2012 film is actually a comedy, centred around the lives of 40-something men who are suffering identity crises.
Festivities will close on a slightly darker note with the 1970s Catherine Deneuve classic Tristana, recognised even today as revolutionary in its exploration of politics, religion, and love, and credited as director Luis Buñuel's masterpiece.
For anyone wanting to quiz a film industry insider, Mexican director Natalia Beristáin will visit Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra for Q&A sessions following special screenings of her debut film She Doesn't Want to Sleep Alone (No quiero dormir sola).
Despite the winter timetable, the festival will be warming things up with a special event, Splash of Summer, a program of tapas, drinks, and live entertainment topped off with a screening of The Summer Side. It's sure to warm your heart, if not your toes.
Music fans may like to check out the Jazz & Jewels event, which features the same drinks and nibbles, plus live jazz. The movie of the moment, Hold Up!, accounts for the 'Jewels' section of the title, with its bizarre (and true) story of the complicated plot to protect the jewels once owned by Argentina's first lady, Evita (as in, don't cry for me).
The Spanish Film Festival Dates
12 – 26 June: Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth & Keno Cinema, Melbourne12 – 26 June: Cinema Paradiso, Perth
13 – 23 June: Palace Centro, Brisbane
13 – 23 June: Palace Nova Eastend Cinema, Adelaide
18 – 26 June: Palace Electric Cinema, Canberra
19 June – 13 July: Palace Verona & Chauvel Cinema, Sydney
20 – 26 June: Palace Byron Bay