The most “risky and sexy” side of the new Spanish cinema arrives today in the United States with Miami Recent Cinema from Spain, a sample of seven films that includes proposals ranging from “thriller”, to suspense or animation.
The seventh edition of this contest begins this Thursday with the screening of the film “Abracadabra”, by director Pablo Berger and starring Maribel Verdú, Antonio de la Torre and José Mota, and will count until next Sunday with the presence of actors Carlos Santos or Javier Pereira.
The Basque director was thrilled by his participation in this festival with “Abracadabra” and assured Efe today that it is an honor “to come to represent Spanish cinema” to Miami, a city that considers a great gateway to the US market.
And they do it at the Olympia theater, a jewel of the Art Deco style of 1926, which will host a cinema that is characterized by “being different, risky, sexy and struggling with traditional ways of making movies,” Berger said.
One of these cases is Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s box office success, “May God Save Us”, which is presented on Friday, a day in which the black comedy “Despido desde” will also premiere.
The thriller “The Mist and the Maiden”, directed by Andrés M. Koppe, is another of the films that will premiere at this festival, which will also premiere in Miami the humorous “Villaviciosa de al side “(A Stroke of Luck), by Nacho G. Villa and starring Carlos Santos.
But Berger emphasizes that the current Spanish cinema is no longer just comedy and has crossed borders in part thanks to the work of filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar, whom he defined as an “icebreaker” to which he wanted to thank him for the work of establishing the “film brand” Spanish “abroad.
Santos, winner of the 2016 Goya Award for Best Newcomer for his role in “The Man with the Thousand Faces”, who attends this show to present the film “Villaviciosa de al lado” agreed with Berger that Spanish cinema has abandoned ” the uniformity of gender, in which comedy or auteur cinema dominated “.
Both stressed that Spanish cinema enjoys “good health” at the production level, thanks to the new generation of actors and directors who are “hitting very hard”.
However, Santos stressed that it is necessary to have “more aid and promotion” so that the Spanish cinema is “internally sane and its visibility” abroad is better.
For Pereira, “May God forgive us,” which stars alongside Roberto Alamo and Antonio de la Torre and is screened this Friday, “has a lot of personality and style,” which is why it is a “good example” of this good visibility.
However, the winner in 2014 of the Goya for best actor “Stockholm” and nominated two years later in the category of best supporting actor for “May God forgive us”, wanted to reclaim the need to “change the perception” that was has in Spain the actors and national culture.
“We do not value what we have at home,” added Pereira, who said that just as people are proud of food and sports, so must culture.
The other films that will be screened at Recent Cinema from Spain are “Ozzy”, a children’s animated film by Nacho La Casa, which will be screened at a special show and director Oriol Paul’s intriguing film, “The Invisible Guest” ).
This film will close next Sunday this edition of the festival, organized by the Entity of Management of Rights of the Audiovisual Producers (EGEDA) and the Olympia Theater, with the collaboration of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts of Spain (ICAA) and the Cultural Center Spanish (CCE) of Miami.
