A showcase of the year’s Spanish movies.
25 Carat and Broken Embraces
25 Carat (25 kilates)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Patxi Amézcua; Writer: Patxi Amézcua; Stars: Francesc Garrido, Aida Folch, Manuel Morón),
Official Site
A thug and a thief fall for each other and try to escape a life of crime in this Barcelona-set thriller.
Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Writer: Pedro Almodóvar; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Tamar Novas, Rubén Ochandiano),
Official Site,
Trailer
A tale of obsessive love and contested identity within the world of filmmaking.
Brain Drain (Fuga de cerebros)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Fernando González Molina; Writer: Álex Pina, Curro Velázquez; Stars: Mario Casas, Alberto Amarilla, Amaia Salamanca, Canco Rodríguez, Gorka Lasaosa, Pablo Penedo, Blanca Suárez, Sarah Mühlhause, Álex Angulo, Asunción Balaguer, Joan Dalmau, David Fernández, José Luis Gil, Fernando Guillén, Loles León)
Emilio is a shy student who has spent his entire life nurturing a secret love for Natalia, the beautiful bright girl in his class. Just when he’s decided to tell her his feelings, Natalia learns that she’s received a scholarship to study Medicine at Oxford. While all seems lost for Emilio, his ostracised schoolmates refuse to give up.
Familystrip
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Lluís Miñarro; Writer: Lluís Miñarro; Stars: María Luz Albero Calvo, Francesc Miñarro Bermejo, Lluís Miñarro Albero, Francesc Herrero)
An improvised film, initially intended as a family gift, unexpectedly becomes the chronicle of a disappearing generation.
The Friend Zone (Pagafantas)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Borja Cobeaga; Writer: Borja Cobeaga, Diego San José; Stars: Gorka Otxoa, Sabrina Garciarena, Julián López, Óscar Ladoire, Kiti Manver, María Asquerino, Michel Brown, Teresa Hurtado de Ory, Bárbara Santa Cruz, Ernesto Sevilla, Santi Ugalde)
Having recently split from his long-standing girlfriend, Chema sets out every evening ready to take on the world. His nighttime skirmishes are pretty much a flop until he meets Claudia, an amusing, stunning girl who seems to like him. But Chema soon realises that, although Claudia loves him dearly, she only sees him as a friend.
The Shame and Return To Hansala
The Good News (La buena nueva)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Helena Taberna; Writer: Andrés Martorell, Helena Taberna; Stars: Susana Abaituna Gómez, Gorka Aguinagalde, Magdalena Aizpurua, Joseba Apaolaza, Klara Badiola, Bárbara Goenaga, Iñake Irastorza, Loquillo, Jabier Muguruza, Erik Probanza, Fernando Ruiz, Rodrigo Sáenz de Heredia, Maribel Salas, Mercedes Sampietro, Mikel Tello)
Miguel is named parish priest of a socialist village coinciding with the outbreak of Civil War in 1936. Right from the genesis of the uprising, the nationals take over the village and the shootings begin. In his struggle to defend the victims, Miguel clashes with the ecclesiastic and military hierarchy, putting his own life on the line.
History Of A Rock Band (Historia de un grupo de rock)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Juanma Bajo Ulloa; Writer: Juanma Bajo Ulloa; Stars: Distrito 14)
The farewell of cult Spanish rock band Distrito 14.
Ich Bin Enric Marco
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Santiago Fillol, Lucas Vermal; Stars: Enric Marco)
Enric Marco, ex-president of the Spain’s main deportees’ association, embarks on a car trip to Germany, a demythologising journey into his past.
The Loss (La Pérdida)
(Country: Spain, Argentina; Year: 2009; Director: Javier Angulo, Enrique Gabriel; Writer: Javier Angulo, Rafael Flores Montenegro, Enrique Gabriel; Stars: Cristina Rota, Osvaldo Bayer, Juan Gelman, Juan Carlos Chachques, Rodolfo Mattarollo, Cora Sadoski, Juan Méndez, Marcelino Cereijido, Liliana De Riz, Daniel Goldstein, Enrique Oteiza, Víctor Penchaszadeh)
Documentary concerning intellectuals forced to flee Argentina in the Sixties and Seventies, who went on to great success. Considering the impact they might have had in their homeland.
Relatos
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Mario Iglesias; Writer: Mario Iglesias; Stars: Concepción González, Luis Callejo, Yago Presa, Bruto Pomeroy, Graciela Rodríguez)
Rosario Francesc, an authoress leading a completely conventional housewife’s life, visits a psychotherapist for a problem of nighttime panic attacks.
Return To Hansala (Retorno a Hansala)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Chus Gutiérrez; Writer: Chus Gutiérrez, Juan Carlos Rubio; Stars: El Hussein Aghazaff, Miguel Alcíbar, Fatima Andah, Adam Bounnouacha, Antonio Dechent, María del Águila, Antonio de la Torre, Cuca Escribano, José Luis García Pérez, Farah Hamed, Sebastián Haro, Aida Salhi, César Vea)
In the early years of this decade, the corpses of eleven young Moroccan immigrants attempting to cross the Strait in a small launch are found strewn across the Rota beaches. The clothes they were wearing serve to establish that all eleven boys came from the same tiny village, Anísala. Retorno a Hansala endeavours to recreate the event seen from the eyes of Martín, owner of a funeral parlour who intends to make money from the occurrence, and Leila, one of the dead boy’s sisters.
The Shame (La vergüenza)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: David Planell; Writer: David Planell; Stars: Natalia Mateo, Alberto San Juan, Norma Martínez, Brandon Alexander Lastra Cobos)
A couple on the brink of adoption, find themselves in crisis.
Some Truth (Una cierta verdad)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Abel García Roure; Writer: Abel García Roure)
Over a period of two years, the documentary chronicles six people who frequent the same mental health centre in the outlying areas of Barcelona: Sabadell’s Parc Taulí Hospital.
Three Days With The Family (Tres dies amb la família, Tres días con la familia)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Mar Coll; Writer: Mar Coll, Valentina Viso; Stars: Dafnis Balduz, Leonor Bonacasa, Nausicaa Bonnín, Artur Busquets, Josep Maria Busquets, Nadina Campas, Mercè Compte, Josefina Espinosa, Eduard Fernández, Greta Fernández, Ramon Fontserè, Cristina Gàmiz, Santiago Gimeno-Bayón, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Francesc Orella)
Léa suddenly has to return to Girona when her grandfather on her father’s side passes away.
The Two Lives of Andrés Rabadán (Las Dues Vidas De Andrés Rabadán)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Ventura Durall; Writer: Ventura Durall, Andrés Rabadán; Stars: Àlex Brendemühl, Elena Fortuny, Andrés Herrera, Jordi Llordella, Emilio Mencheta, Albert Riballo, Tania Román, Boris Ruiz, Clara Segura, Mar Ulldemolins)
In 1994, Andrés Rabadán gave himself up to the police after derailing three trains and killing his father with a crossbow. He was declared not guilty on being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and committed to a penitentiary psychiatric ward for 20 years. Eleven years later, contrary to his doctors’ opinion, Andrés thinks he’s cured and tries to escape on realising his slim chances of getting out.