I went through a ‘Spanish phase’ recently where I literally watched every single Spanish offering on Netflix. :p Suffice to say, I have run out of Spanish movies and series to watch.
If you love Spanish cinema as much as I do, the Instituto Cervantes de Manila and the Embassy of Spain invite you to enjoy Spanish film classics with ‘Clásicos contigo / Classics with You’. Every weekend of July, the cycle will be showing selected masterpieces from Spain through the Instituto Cervantes Vimeo channel completely free of charge!
The program ‘Classics with You’ is a commitment to quality Spanish cinema designed for cinephiles around the world, bringing back five great movies that are now considered to be reference works of Spanish cinema. The chosen titles, presented by Spanish actors, directors, or screenwriters, belong to the AECID Film Library catalog and will be screened with English subtitles. The five movies will be shown over five weekends – one film per weekend with each title only available for 48 hours.
The lineup of movies is comprised of the following: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) and The South (1983), directed by Víctor Erice; The Holy Innocents (1984), by Mario Camus in; La vaquilla (1985), by Luis García Berlanga; and The good star, shot by Ricardo Franco in 1997.
The first film to be streamed is The Spirit of the Beehive, directed in 1973 by Víctor Erice, one of the most outstanding and appreciated filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema. The premiere of ‘The Spirit of the Beehive’, Erice’s debut feature film, was greeted with critical acclaim and awarded with the Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, soon establishing itself as the consummate masterpiece of Spanish cinema.
The film will be available on the Instituto Cervantes Vimeo channel on July 4 and 5. To access the link to the movie and password, log in to Instituto Cervantes de Manila’s website here.
Cineclub Película
Coinciding with this cycle, Instituto Cervantes and the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines are also launching Cineclub Pelikula, an online cinema club that offers video talks around the programmed films.
Conducted by writer and cultural activist Jessica Zafra, the video-talks will take place every Sunday on Zoom. The first webinar will be devoted to the film El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) is scheduled for July 5 at 5PM.
Do you know anyone who loves Spanish films? Tag them in the comments section!
Instituto Cervantes Manila
Website: https://manila.cervantes.es
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila
