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SIFF Brings Festival of New Spanish Cinema to Seattle

Posted Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 - Comments Off on SIFF Brings Festival of New Spanish Cinema to Seattle
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Pragda and Seattle International Film Festival present

THE FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA

Dates: Thursday, September 23 – Sunday, September 26
SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer Street at 3rd Avenue, McCaw Hall,
in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at Seattle Center

The Festival of New Spanish Cinema in Seattle is organized by Pragda and SIFF and supported by the Tourist Office of Spain and the Embassy of Spain in Washington. Additional support comes from Ministry of Culture of Spain – ICAA, Instituto Cervantes Seattle, Consulate of Spain in Seattle, University of Washington, Freixenet, Taberna del Albardero, and Iberia Airlines of Spain. Promotional consideration by 88.5 KPLU.

SEATTLE – September 2, 2010 -THE FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA
celebrates the breadth of styles, subjects, and genre-driven dynamism coming out of Spain, while introducing audiences to vital new voices in Spanish Cinema. This edition’s program is packed with the most offbeat, unorthodox and mind-blowing stories of the contemporary Spanish cinema: Second World War’s double agents and awkward family gatherings coexist with religious boxers and unconventional romances in a film series that reflects the diversity and vitality of the Spanish cinema.

Three of the most renowned Spanish actors, Candela Peña (Take My Eyes), Alberto San Juan (The Shame) and Cristina Marcos (All the Men are the Same), along with the emblematic Geraldine Chaplin, star in the tragicomic camp melodrama THE ISLAND INSIDE, by the filmmaker combo Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso. Other festival highlights include the expected second feature film by 7 Virgins’ director, Alberto Rodríguez, AFTER, a compelling and contemporary drama about urban loneliness with a superb cast: Guillermo Toledo (The Two Sides of the Bed), Tristán Ulloa (Sex and Lucía) and the debutant Blanca Romero; THE CONDEMNED, the first feature film by Isaki Lacuesta, multidisciplinary artist and radical filmmaker, author of two of the best Spanish documentaries of the last years, Cravan vs. Cravan and La leyenda del tiempo; and several remarkably assured debuts, including the Spanish Academy Goya Award-winner THREE DAYS WITH THE FAMILY, by 27-year-old Mar Coll, Special Jury Prize winner at Toronto International Film Festival Sebastián Cordero’s RABIA, and GARBO, THE SPY by Edmon Roch, a fascinating mixture of documentary and fiction that narrates the story of a Spanish double agent during the Second WW, winner of the Spanish Academy Goya Award for Best Documentary. Winner of several awards and highlighted at the Sundance Film Festival, is ME TOO, by Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro.

Join us after THE ISLAND INSIDE for an Opening Night Fiesta at Belltown’s Taberna del Alabardero complete with food, drink, and music! Taberna del Alabardero is a legendary fine dining restaurant renowned for its elegant old world décor, dignified high standard of service, and traditional Spanish cuisine. With the goal to educate people on the rich diversity of Spanish cuisine and the unmatchable wines the country has to offer, Taberna del Alabardero is the perfect place for film conversation, drinks, and food during the Festival of New Spanish Cinema. For more information please visit www.siff.net and www.alabardero.com/seattle.

FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA
Tickets: www.siff.net
Information: call (206) 633-7151.

Tickets to the Opening Night Fiesta are $25 ($20 SIFF Members), and include film screening, admission to the after party with food by the renowned La Taberna Del Alabardero, drink, and music. Tickets to the film only are $12 ($10 SIFF Members).

Series pass available for $50 ($40 SIFF members)
Tickets: $10 ($8 SIFF members)

FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA COMPLETE SCREENING SCHEDULE
(descriptions to follow)

Thursday, September 23
Opening Night Fiesta includes film screening, admission to the after party with food by the renowned La Taberna Del Alabardero, drink, and music. $25 ($20 SIFF Members), film only $12 ($10 SIFF Members)

8:00 pm THE ISLAND INSIDE (La isla interior), by Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso. 93 min. 2009. Spain.

Friday, September 24
7:30 pm GARBO, THE SPY (Garbo, el espía), by Edmon Roch. 88 min. Spain.
9:30 pm STIGMATA (Estigmas), by Adán Aliaga. 98 min. 2009. Spain.

Saturday, September 25
2:30 pm GARBO, THE SPY (Garbo, el espía), by Edmon Roch. 88 min. Spain.
4:30 pm THE CONDEMNED (Los condenados), by Isaki Lacuesta. 104 min. 2009. Spain.
7:30 pm RABIA, by Sebastián Cordero. 96 min. 2009. Spain/México/Colombia.
9:30 pm AFTER, by Alberto Rodríguez. 116 min. 2009. Spain.

Sunday, September 26
2:30 pm THE ISLAND INSIDE (La isla interior), by Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso. 93 min.
4:30 pm THREE DAYS WITH THE FAMILY (Tres dies amb la família), by Mar Coll 86 min.
6:30 pm ME TOO (Yo, Tambien), by Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro 103 min. Spain 2009

FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA
Detailed Program and Schedule Information (All films are from Spain unless otherwise noted)

THE ISLAND INSIDE La isla interior by Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso
Spanish with English subtitles. 93 min. 2009. Spain.
With Alberto San Juan, Candela Peña, Cristina Marcos, Geraldine Chaplin.

Siblings Martin (Alberto San Juan), Gracia (Cristina Marcos) and Coral (Candela Peña) are the children of a schizophrenic. The sudden death of their father forces them to leave the inner island which isolates them from their loved ones, from their dreams … and from being themselves. A superb psychodrama by the camp filmmaker combo Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso (Rated X, Sorry Darling, but Lucas Loved Me), with kick ass performances by the most renowned independent actors working today.
Thursday, September 23 at 8:00 pm (opening night)
Sunday, September 26 at 2:30 pm

GARBO, THE SPY Garbo, el espía by Edmon Roch
English/ Spanish with English subtitles. 88 min. 2009.
The Nazis called him Alaric. The British called him Garbo. Born in Spain, Juan Pujol (his true name) was one of the most successful double agents in history. Director Edmon Roch utilizes a fascinating mixture of fictional reconstruction, archive footage and film extracts to tell the unknown and real story of the Spaniard Joan Pujol Garcia, who fought on both sides in two wars without ever having held a weapon. The peak of his career came in 1944, when he succeeded in diverting German defense forces to Calais while the Allied landings were taking place in Normandy, thus averting considerable bloodshed. Rumor had it he died in 1949 after contracting malaria in Angola—until he was discovered more than 30 years later living a new life, yet again, in Venezuela. Goya award (Spanish Academy Award) for Best Documentary.
Friday, September 24 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 25 at 2:30 pm

STIGMATA Estigmas by Adán Aliaga
Spanish with English subtitles. 98 min., 2009
With Manuel Martínez, Marieta Orozco. A hauntingly beautiful and lyrical tale, Adan Aliaga’s (director of multi awarded documentary My Grandmother’s House) debut feature is a thoughtful journey into the intertwining realms of faith and character. The story is adapted from Lorenzo Mattotti and Claudio Piersanti’s acclaimed comic, and told through a hulking, gentle giant of a man, Bruno (played by Spanish shotput champion Manuel Martinez), whose sad life is on a downward spiral. He wakes up one morning bleeding from mysterious wounds on his hands, which he questions from a purely physical viewpoint, but which others see as divine signature. Hounded, Bruno flees the city and wanders through the countryside until he finds a traveling fair and falls in love. Ultimately, Bruno’s journey is one of universal ideas, which lead us to our own, larger than life questions—of love, expectation, and redemption.
Friday, September 24 at 9:30 pm

THE CONDEMNED Los condenados by Isaki Lacuesta
Spanish with English subtitles. 104 min., 2009. Spain.
With Daniel Fanego, Bárbara Lennie, Arturo Goetz. Enfant-terrible and multidisciplinary artist Isaki Lacuesta, author of one of the recent masterpieces of Spanish cinema, La leyenda del tiempo, always pays attention to the mutual intoxications between reality and fiction, between fact and myth. Thought-provoking, always inspiring thriller, the film is about whether or not it’s best to remain quiet about the past. It follows an exiled activist’s return to Argentina after 30 years to search for the body of a friend who died in combat with the military in the jungle. The clandestine excavations resurface old rivalries and some well-kept secrets. Fipresci International Critics’ Prize at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
Saturday, September 25 at 4:30 pm

RABIA by Sebastián Cordero
Spanish with English subtitles. 96 min. 2009. Spain/México/Colombia
With: Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Martina García, Concha Velasco, Álex Brendemühl
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Toronto International Film Festival, the film has a stellar cast including Concha Velasco, Xabier Elorriaga, Álex BrendeMühl, Icíar Bollaín and protagonist Gustavo Sánchez-Parra and Martina García. An immigrant couple fall in love in a hostile milieu. Jose Maria, a construction worker, kills his foreman, and hides for a long time at the mansion where his girlfriend Rosa serves as a maid. In his debut feature film, Sebastián Cordero turns a social commentary about immigration into a terrifying and claustrophobic thriller.
Saturday, September 25 at 7:30 pm

AFTER by Alberto Rodríguez
Spanish with English subtitles. 116 min., 2009.
With: Tristán Ulloa, Guillermo Toledo and Blanca Romero. Manuel (Tristán Ulloa), Ana (Blanca Romero) and Julio (Guillermo Toledo), friends since adolescence, now in their mid-thirties, reunite for a boozy dinner that turns into a clubbing, dancing, drugging free-for-all. As their trip to the heart of the night unfolds, old attractions and resentments rise to the surface. With AFTER, filmmaker Alberto Rodríguez (7 Virgins) compellingly portrays three people fervently, desperately seeking connection.
Saturday, September 25 at 9:30 pm

THREE DAYS WITH THE FAMILY Tres dies amb la família by Mar Coll
Catalan and Spanish with English subtitles. 86 min., 2009, Spain.
With Nausicaa Bonnín, Eduard Fernández, Ramon Fontseré.
In one of the most impressive Spanish debut features of the last years, THREE DAYS WITH THE FAMILY tells the story of Léa (Nausicaa Bonnín), a 21-year-old girl who returns home to attend her grandfather’s funeral. Lea’s father Josep Maria, the son of deceased patriarch Pere, is a sensitive man who listens passionately to opera but is so emotionally withdrawn that he can’t get close to his daughter. Her French mother Joelle drinks to hide her sadness. Not surprisingly, Lea’s a loner and distraught by all the family stress; on top of everything else, her boyfriend is just breaking up with her. Often hilarious, this amusing semi-autobiographical film by 28-years-old Spanish director Mar Coll, proffers an observant study of rituals of grief in a bourgeois household where little can be aired openly and hypocrisy rules. The outstanding ensemble cast film won three awards at the Malaga Spanish Film Festival and the Goya (Spanish Academy Award) for Best New Director.
Sunday, September 26 at 4:30 pm

ME TOO Yo, Tambien by Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro
In Spanish with English subtitles, 103 min., 2009, Spain
With: Lola Dueñas, Pablo Pineda, Isabel García Lorca, and Antonio Naharro
Daniel, a 34 year-old man with Down Syndrome, falls for a woman who has never been loved in a multi-award winning social comedy that questions traditional notions of what is considered physically normal. Winner of Goya Awards for Best Actress and Song, the Audience Award at Rotterdam Film Festival, and Best Actress at San Sebastian. Directed by Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro.
Sunday, September 26 at 6:30 pm

About Pragda:

Pragda is an independent cultural initiative created with the mission of promoting rare films in diverse environments with the help of technology and alternative channels. Pragda’s programs travel to the most prestigious venues in the world, including Museum of Modern Art (New York), Harvard Film Archives (Boston), The Film Society of Lincoln Center (New York), BFI Southbank (London), Houston Museum of Fine Arts (Houston) etc. Its curating mission is to deconstruct Spanish film legacy in order to free it from its conflicting image as well as creating risky film series to challenge audiences, always with the support of worldwide reputable venues around the world.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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~ David Simon