Olé! time for Spanish film festival
The 2020 Edinburgh International Spanish Film Festival at home runs from 6 to 25 October 2020.
There are 16 feature films, 11 short films and a series of lockdown monologues.
All of these and Q&A and panel sessions will be available online. A Festival Pass for all films is £40, or £20 for five films with student concessions.
Marian A. Aréchaga, Director of the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival said: “It has been big challenge for us to adapt – the physical cinema experience will be greatly missed this year – but I am thrilled to share with you our vibrant and varied programme, with something for all ages and tastes. The main objective of the festival is to support Spanish cinema, which has undergone so much in this complicated year, and to use cinema as a vehicle to promote the Spanish language and culture beyond our borders. I am grateful to the institutions that have helped us to create a platform where Spanish and British audience can enjoy the pleasure of cinema.”
There are films directed by women: Ojos negros (Ivet Castello and Marta Lallana), The Innocence (Lucía Alemany), The Invisible (Gracia Querejeta), CartasVivas (Paula Ortiz and Nuria Capdevila),
Love and Death (Arantxa Aguirre). The showcase also includes Out in the Open (Benito Zambrano) and the classic The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice).
Documentaries cover a range of subjects, including: literature, in The Blue Days (Laura Hojman); cinema, in Saura(s) (Felix Viscarret); gastronomy, in Living in Silence (Iñaki Arteta); and the life of the artist in Cruz Novillo: The Man who Designed Spain (Andrea G. Bermejo & Miguel Larraya).
ESFF welcome new directors and are showing a number of debut films: Camilla Urrutia with Gunpowder Heart, Polo Menárguez introducing The Plan, and Guillermo Rojas with Once Again.
A new feature for 2020 is Chatting Heads – a series of monologues created by Nuria Benet during the Covid-19 lockdown – and a short film section, The Shortest Afternoon from the Premios Pávez festival in Talavera de la Reina (Spain).
This year’s Latin American work includes: The Weasels’ Tale by Academy Award winner Juan J. Campanella, Spider by Andrés Wood, and Camilla Urrutia’s debut Gunpowder Heart.
There are special screenings for schools of Once Again by Guillermo Rojas (S3-S6) and The Footballest by Miguel Lamata (P7-S2) between 6 and 8 October.
edinburghspanishfilmfestival. com