Spanish

  • Fernando E. Solanas – Memoria del saqueo AKA Social Genocide [+Extra] (2004)

    2001-2010ArgentinaDocumentaryFernando E. SolanasPolitics

    “Memoria del saqueo” – literally, “Memory of the looting”, but it’s worth stopping here for a second because there’s an intention there that’s lost in translation. During the 2001 crisis, sensationalist media loved to show images of common looting taking place (people taking stuff out of supermarkets – if it’s a big TV, all the better). The title of the film subverts this common usage of the word “looting” in this context, to direct it to the systematic looting of the national riches by the ruling classes, as explained below.

    Part of a sequence of four documentaries: Memoria del saqueo, La dignidad de los nadies, Argentina latente and La tierra sublevada.Read More »

  • Marco Ferreri – Los chicos AKA The Children (1959)

    Drama1951-1960Marco FerreriSpainSpanish cinema under Franco

    Ferreri’s film “Los Chicos” (The Boys) is about the lives of four lower-middle class Spanish boys coping with the effects of the Spanish Civil War. The film depicts an inhospitable urban environment, conflict between male and female adolescents, and an atmosphere of social imperfection. “Los Chicos” recieved negative reviews from parents, politicians and religious groups who believed that the film could have a detrimental impact on adolescents. The censors found the film pessimistic, unhealthy, hostile to the Franco regime and a bad influence to urban youth. “Los Chicos” was never shown commercially, there was only one public viewing in Barcelona in 1963. Ferreri, an Italian working in Spain, had his residency permit cancelled and was forced to leave Spain.
    — filmaffinity.Read More »

  • Oliver Laxe – O que arde AKA Fire will come (2019)

    2011-2020DramaOliver LaxeSpain

    Quote:

    Amador is a notorious Galician arsonist who has been accused of causing a new fire. Lois, a young firefighter, explores the depths of a forest on fire. Their destinies are linked by the power of a mysterious fire.Read More »

  • Sebastián Lelio – Gloria (2013)

    Drama2011-2020ChileRomanceSebastián Lelio

    Synopsis:
    Divorced for more than ten years, Gloria, a vibrant 58-year-old office clerk in Santiago and mother of two grown-up kids, craves for adventure, refusing to spend the rest of her life in solitude and self-pity. Instead, the vivacious Gloria embraces her freedom, and because of her love for dance and an aching longing for companionship, she will meet Rodolfo, a recently divorced former naval officer, and will daringly decide to give love a second chance. Regretfully; however, Rodolfo comes with baggage, and even though Gloria is sincerely attracted to him, reality’s harsh truth will inevitably bring her face-to-face with towering obstacles, rather than undiluted excitement and ardent passion. In the end, Gloria alone, yet surrounded by people, sad but at the same time happy, will she ultimately find the strength to overcome them?Read More »

  • Jaime Humberto Hermosillo – Doña Herlinda y su hijo AKA Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1985)

    Drama1981-1990Jaime Humberto HermosilloMexicoQueer Cinema(s)Romance

    Quote:
    A sophisticated social comedy directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, one of Mexico’s most daring, original filmmakers.

    Dona Herlinda is a wealthy, fantastically manipulative widow living in Guadalajara who quietly accepts her son Rudolfo’s affair with a handsome young music student, Ramon. After she invites Ramon to live with her family (“Rudolfo has such a big bed,” she says) the situation becomes hilariously complicated by Rudolfo’s marriage of convenience to Olga, a feminist and employee of Amnesty International.Read More »

  • Leobardo López Aretche – El Grito (1968)

    1961-1970DocumentaryLeobardo López AretcheMexicoPolitics

    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

    Quote:
    A documentary on the student movement in Mexico, 1968, made by film students

    Quote:
    A documentary of the conflicts that arose in Mexico in 1968, just before the Olympic Games, between students protesting against the corrupt government, and the police and armed forces. This documentary was made by film students, and remains one of the few graphic testimonies of all the events that led to the massacre of students in Tlatelolco.Read More »

  • Francisco J. Lombardi – Pantaleón y las visitadoras AKA Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (1999)

    1991-2000ComedyEroticaFrancisco J. LombardiPeru

    The Peruvian army captain Pantaleon Pantoja, a very serious and efficient officer, is chosen to set up a special service of ‘visitors’ to satisfy the sexual needs of the soldiers posted on remote jungle outposts.

    Starring: Salvador del Solar, Angie Cepeda, Mónica Sánchez, Pilar Bardem, Gianfranco Brero, Gustavo Bueno & Carlos Kaniowsky.Read More »

  • Carlos Aured – El espanto surge de la tumba AKA Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)

    1971-1980Carlos AuredCultHorrorSpainSpanish cinema under Franco

    Synopsis:
    In Medieval France a warlock is be-headed and his wife tortured and executed. Hundreds of years later an isolated group of people discover his head buried on their property. Soon it comes back to life, possessing people and using them to commit sacrifices and to search for the rest of his body.Read More »

  • Albert Serra – Liberté (2019)

    2011-2020Albert SerraArthouseDramaSpain

    Storyline

    1774, a few years before the French Revolution, somewhere between Potsdam and Berlin… Madame de Dumeval, the Duke of Tesis and the Duke of Wand, libertines expelled from the Puritan court of Louis XVI, sought the support of the legendary Duke of Walchen, a seducer and free thinker from Germany, alone in a country where hypocrisy and false virtue reigned. Their mission: to export libertinage to Germany, a philosophy of enlightenment based on the rejection of morality and authority but also, and above all, to find a safe place to continue their misguided games.Read More »

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