Welcome to the London Spanish Film Festival – now celebrating it's 10th year!
To mark the Festival's first decade for 10 days we offer you – at both Ciné Lumière and the Instituto Cervantes – a wealth of film screenings, talks, tertulias, shorts sessions, book presentations and Q&As with filmmakers and actors. All about film, these events will astonish, educate, fascinate, grip or simply entertain you.
This year we are pleased to present some really delightful comedies, such as our hilarious opening film, Tres bodas de más, and Sánchez Arévalo's latest comedy-drama, La gran familia española.
Some films will offer glimpses into every-day life in Spain, such as Historias de Lavapiés or Os fenomenos. Others examine the current situation in Spanish cinema, as well as its future (our Love Letter to Cinema section).
The relationship between food and film is something that has often been explored in cinema in recent years – both in Spain and beyond. This year we are delighted to offer you some more "culinary cinema", with The Food Guide to Love and El somni.
Offering a view of cinematic works produced in Catalonia, our Sixth Catalan Window once again illustrates the wealth of talent and craft there – with a small but strong selection of films including producer Lluís Miñarro's first feature film, Stella Cadente, and Pau Teixidor's tense thriller Purgatorio.
The strength of Basque cinema is celebrated in our Fifth Basque Window, presenting – among other long and short films – Las brujas de Zugarramurdi, another demonstration of Álex de la Iglesia's distinctive and fascinating style. There will also be a special session with the screening of three short films showing two American filmmakers', Orson Welles and Cyrus Sutton, visions of the Basque Country
Sophisticated but controversial, Vicente Aranda is one of Spain's most renowned filmmakers. His films exploring such themes as jealousy, sexual desire or complex social issues have become cinematic classics. Taking the Prada brothers' documentary, Vicente Aranda: 50 años de cine, as a starting point, we have dedicated a special feature to him where we explore some of the most important films of his career, as well as staging an exclusive interview with him.
Last but not least, once again we have a treasure from the archives, which this year will be La vida en un hilo, a delightful screwball comedy by Hollywood devotee Edgar Neville, with Conchita Montes, one of Spain's most popular actresses in the '40s and '50s.
Each year we invariably feel a sense of excitement when we start to work on the festival programme and discover new films and new visions – an excitement that alternates with elation, frustration, production challenges, joy... Until, finally, we manage to close the circle that starts with a dream of adventure and emotions, follows with an act of confidence in ourselves and in the skill and resources of Spanish talent and closes with 10 full-throttle festival days.
We hope you enjoy our 10th anniversary Festival Programme!
Joana Granero, Director
Patricia Pérez, Programmer
María Ugarte, Basque Window Programmer
Almudena Escobar, Shorts Programmer
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