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Viva · 2013

Viva 2013

Full Schedule

Programme

22 films · 6 reviews

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30 Years Of Darkness (30 años de oscuridad)

This documentary portrays the eventful life of Manuel Cortés, known as "the mole of Mijas", a victim of political persecution who remained in hiding for thirty years, a ghost of the Civil War.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Manuel H Martín; Writer: Jorge Laplace; Stars: Juan Diego, Ana Fernández)

UK premiere

Attack Of The Werewolves (Lobos De Arga, Wolves Of Arga, Game Of Werewolves)

Review preview for Attack Of The Werewolves

In Moreno's genre comedy, not only are the horrors of a century-old Romanian vendetta exposed to the full moon's half light, but also a trail of hidden ordnance and long-buried bodies from the more recent, entirely real and utterly homegrown Spanish Civil

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A writer returns to his Galician village expecting to receive an award, but the villagers have very different plans for him.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Juan Martínez Moreno; Writer: Juan Martínez Moreno; Stars: Gorka Otxoa, Carlos Areces, Secun de la Rosa, Mabel Rivera, Manuel Manquiña, Luis Zahera, Coté Soter, Marcos Ruiz, Ramses)

Full review

Ali

Coming-of-age tale sees a rebellious Spanish teenager coping with her mother’s delicate mental health.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Paco R Baños; Stars: Verónica Forqué, Nadia de Santiago, Julián Villagrán)

UK premiere

As Luck Would Have It (La chispa de la vida)

Can a freak accident help a washed-up ad executive help to care for his family?

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2011; Director: Álex de la Iglesia; Writer: Randy Feldman; Stars: Salma Hayek, José Mota, Fernando Tejero, Blanca Portillo, Juan Luis Galiardo)

Atraco!

Agents for Eva Peron plan a robbery after she pawns her jewellery.

(Country: Spain, Argentina; Year: 2012; Director: Eduard Cortés; Writer: Eduard Cortés, Pedro Costa, Piti Español, Marcelo Figueras; Stars: Óscar Jaenada, Amaia Salamanca, Guillermo Francella, Francesc Albiol, Daniel Fanego, Nicolás Cabré, Bárbara de Lema, Félix Cubero, Felipe Vélez, Jorge Suquet, Jordi Martínez, Juan Codina, Simona Ferrar, Chechu Moltó)

UK premiere

Chocó (Choco)

Review preview for Chocó

Yet although the film is shot wide by an unmoving camera in full naturalist mode, we ultimately remain uncertain whether Chocó has taught Everlides a lesson, or just dreamt that she has.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
The story of a woman struggling on the thin line between hope and despair in a small Columbian village.

(Country: Colombia; Year: 2011; Director: Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza; Stars: Karent Hinestroza, Esteban Copete, Fabio García, Daniela Mosquera, Ivan Restrepo)

Full review

Clandestine Childhood (Infancia clandestina)

The story of a boy who learns how to live in hiding and to survive.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, Brazil; Year: 2011; Director: Benjamín Ávila; Writer: Marcelo Müller, Benjamín Ávila; Stars: Natalia Oreiro, Ernesto Alterio, César Troncoso, Cristina Banegas, Benjamín Ávila, Mayana Neiva, Violeta Palukas, Douglas Simon, Teo Gutiérrez Romero, Marcelo Mininno)

See: San Sebastian Film Festival Diary: Episode 2

UK premiere

Cold Case (Puerta Fria)

A salesman facing financial ruin, takes desperate measures.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Xavi Puebla; Writer: Jesús Gil Vilda, Xavi Puebla; Stars: Sergio Caballero, Héctor Colomé, Antonio Dechent, José Ángel Egido, Cesáreo Estébanez, José Luis García Pérez, Nick Nolte, Alex O'Dogherty, María Valverde)

The Delay (La demora)

An overworked and underpaid, a forty-something mother of three is driven to abandon her senile father so she can take better care of her children.

(Country: Uruguay, Mexico, France; Year: 2012; Director: Rodrigo Plá; Writer: Laura Santullo; Stars: Carlos Vallarino, Roxana Blanco)

The Good Herbs

A mother and daughter confront the tragedy of early onset Alzheimer's.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2010; Director: María Novaro; Writer: María Novaro; Stars: Úrsula Pruneda, Ofelia Medina, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Cosmo González Muñoz, Gabino Rodríguez, Miriam Balderas, Alberto Estrella, Luisa Pardo, Rodrigo Solis)

UK premiere

Life Begins Today

A light-hearted approach to sex lives in the third age.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2010; Director: Laura Mañá; Writer: Alicia Luna, Alicia Luna, Laura Mañá; Stars: Blanca Apilánez, Pilar Bardem, María Barranco, Sonsoles Benedicto, Eduardo Blanco, Mariana Cordero, Tilda Espluga, Francesc Garrido, Teresa Manresa, Lluís Marco, Marc Martínez, Laura Mañá, Carlos Olalla, Isabel Osca, Jaume Pla)

UK premiere

A Life Without Words (Una vida sin palabras)

Documentary about young deaf adults in rural Nicaragua who gain their first experience of communication through sign language thanks to the determination of their teacher Tomasa.

(Country: Turkey, Nicaragua; Year: 2011; Director: Adam Isenberg)

UK premiere

The Long Holidays of 1936 (Las Largas vacaciones del 36)

Set in a middle-class holiday resort near Barcelona at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the film tells the story of a bourgeois family caught up in the drama of the conflict.

(Country: Spain; Year: 1976; Director: Jaime Camino; Stars: Concha Velasco, José Sacristán, Francisco Rabal, Angela Molina)

Medianeras

A romantic comedy with a nod to Woody Allen's Manhattan where boy fails to meet girl across the crowded cityscape of twenty-first century Buenos Aires.

(Country: Argentina, Germany, Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Gustavo Taretto; Writer: Gustavo Taretto; Stars: Pilar Lpez de Ayala, Javier Drolas, Ins Efrn, Rafa Ferro, Carla Peterson)

Pescador

A fisherman stumbles on a load of cocaine, prompting him to turn drug dealer.

(Year: 2011; Director: Sebastián Cordero; Writer: Juan Fernando Andrade, Sebastián Cordero; Stars: Andrés Crespo, María Cecilia Sánchez)

UK premiere

The Sleeping Voice (La voz dormida)

Set in the terrible years immediately following the end of the Spanish civil war, the film narrates the moving relations between two sisters, one of them in jail, and the two men they love, who become two guerrilla fighters.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Benito Zambrano; Writer: Dulce Chacón, Carmen López-Areal, Ignacio del Moral, Benito Zambrano; Stars: Javier Godino, Inma Cuesta, Ana Wagener, Marc Clotet, Miryam Gallego, María Garralón, Berta Ojea, Susi Sánchez, Emilio Linder, Antonio Dechent, Ángela Cremonte, Ana Gracia, María León, Amaia Lizarralde, Jesús Noguero)

The Summer Side (Del Lado Del Verano)

The trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional family, as they navigate the choppy waters of family feuds, love, betrayal, friendship and burgeoning sexuality.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Antonia San Juan; Stars: Eduardo Casanova, Secun de la Rosa, Sara Guerra, Macarena Gómez, Mariam Hernández, Petite Lorena, Isabel Prinz, Blanca Rodríguez, Antonia San Juan, Luis Miguel Seguí)

Thursday Till Sunday (De Jueves A Domingo)

Review preview for Thursday Till Sunday

The camera of Bárbara Álvarez carefully observes the tensions mounting against a backdrop of ... landscapes that mirror the young girl's anxieties.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
A ten-year-old becomes aware of the strains on her parents' marriage over the course of long car journey.

(Country: Chile, Netherlands; Year: 2012; Director: Dominga Sotomayor; Writer: Dominga Sotomayor; Stars: Santi Ahumada, Emiliano Freifeld, Paola Giannini, Francisco Pérez-Bannen, Jorge Becker, Axel Dupré)

Full review

Violeta Went To Heaven (Violeta Se Fue A Los Cielos)

Review preview for Violeta Went To Heaven

Here, the old Chilean songs fulfill their original purpose, as storytelling elements, but now they bear the weight of a new history.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A biopic of the Chilean folk singer, composer, ethnomusicologist and painter Violeta Parra.

(Country: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Andrés Wood; Writer: Eliseo Altunaga, Rodrigo Bazaes, Guillermo Calderón, Andrés Wood; Stars: Francisca Gavilán, Thomas Durand, Luis Machín, Gabriela Aguilera, Roberto Farías) , Official site

Full review

The Wild Ones (Els nens salvatges)

A film which focuses on the world of teenagers, on their challenges and the lack of communication between them and their elders.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Patricia Ferreira; Writer: Patricia Ferreira, Virginia Yagüe; Stars: Marina Comas, Àlex Monner, Albert Baró, Aina Clotet, Ana Fernández, José Luis García Pérez, Montse Germán, Francesc Orella, Marisol Membrillo, Clara Segura, Emma Vilarasau, Lluís Villanueva, Eduardo Velasco, Mercè Pons, Xavier Ripoll)

UK premiere

The World Is Ours (El Mundo Es Nuestro)

Review preview for The World Is Ours

The motor running Sánchez's film stays in full throttle to the last.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
To boys from the hood try to rob a bank... but things don't go according to plan.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Alfonso Sánchez; Writer: Alfonso Sánchez; Stars: María Cabrera, Estrella Corrientes, Antonio Dechent, Sergio Domínguez, Pepa Díaz Meco, Antonia Gómez, Joserra Leza, Alberto López, Olga Martínez, Javier Mora, Javier Mora, Daniel Morilla, Elías Pelayo, José Manuel Poga, Pepe Quero)

Full review

UK premiere