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SPANISH FILMS
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Matador
(Bullfighter)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain -
1986 |
Ex-bullfighter who is getting turned on by killing, lady lawyer with
same problem and young man driven insane by over-religious upbringing -
these are the main characters in this stylish black comedy about dark
sides of human nature. |
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Mujeres Al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios
(Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) |
A woman’s lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why
he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she.
Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her
because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female
lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover, and everyone's path
keeps crossing each other's in a very complicated and confusing manner. |
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Pedro
Almodovar |
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Spain –
1988
Nominated |
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Atame
(Tie Me Up Tie Me Down) |
Ricky is released from a mental hospital, and knows exactly what he
wants to do. He hunts down Marina, a porn film star he once had sex
with, and tries to convince here to be his wife. She is a bit reluctant,
so he ties her up. |
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Pedro
Almodovar |
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Spain -
1990 |
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Carne Tremula
(Live Flesh)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain -
1997 |
Pizza delivery man Victor is having an argument with Elena, whom he met
a few days ago, but she was high then and doesn't want to hear about
him. Reacting to the noise, two cops, young David and older Sancho,
arrive at the scene, the gun accidentally goes off.. Four years later
David is a wheelchair basketball star, he's married to Elena, Victor is
released out of prison and their destinies begin to cross again. |
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Todo Sobre Mi Madre
(All About My Mother)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain –
1999 |
A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as
he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find
the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a
child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through
him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by
happenstance, becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress
her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's
lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With
echoes of Lorca, "All About Eve," and "Streetcar Named Desire," the
mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship. |
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Winner |
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Hable con Ella
(Talk to Her)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain -
2002 |
After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet
at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a
bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so
happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a
young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all
directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an
unsuspected destiny. |
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Volver
(To Return)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain -
2006 |
Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her husband Paco,
who is always drunk. Her sister, Sole, is separated and works
clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. The two sisters lost their
parents in a fire in La Mancha, their birth village, years ago. Their
aunt, Paula, still lives in the village and continues to speak about her
sister Irene, mother of the two sisters, as if she were still alive.
When the old aunt dies the situation changes and the past returns (volver)
in a twist of mystery and suspense. |
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Bodas de Sangre
(Blood Wedding)
Carmen
(Gypsy Flamenco Dancer)
Nominated
El Amor Brujo
(A Love Bewitched)
Carlos Saura
Spain -
1983 - 1986 |
(Blood Wedding),
Bodas de
Sangre, Based on the play by Frederico Garcia Lorca. Groom’s
mother prepares him for his wedding, but the bride is secretly in love
with another. The bride flees her own wedding party and the groom gives
chase. The conclusion is a knife fight between her husband and her
lover. The dances use the expressive gestures and motions of cabaret
flamenco, choreographed for single dancers, pairs and groups. The
mother's pride in her son is heartwarming, but the savage cultural edge
shows when she sends him to bring back his bride -- she personally gives
him his knife. Carmen (Gypsy Flamenco Dancer), Based on
the opera by George Bizet. Never before has the art of flamenco dance
been so pulsatingly sensual. Or a love so treacherously obsessive. In
this explosive interpretation of the classic opera "Carmen", the lines
between passionate illusion and real life become intricately entwined.
Your senses will be aroused like never before.
El Amor Brujo (A
Love Bewitched), Based on the ballet by composer Manuel de Falla.
Candela marries Jose; soon after he is stabbed to death in a brawl over
another woman. Every night, Candela is compelled to arise from her bed
and dance with the ghost of Jose. Candela eventually marries Carmelo,
who has loved her since they were children, but she is not yet free of
her dead husband. |
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AY Carmela
(Carmela)
Carlos
Saura
Spain -
1990 |
Paulino and Carmela are husband and wife, troubadours touring the
countryside during the Spanish Civil War. They are Republicans, and with
their mute assistant, Gustavete, they journey into rebel territory by
mistake. They are arrested, fear a firing squad, and receive a reprieve
from an Italian Fascist commander who loves the theatre. He arranges a
performance for his troops, bargaining with Paulino to stage a burlesque
of the republic in exchange for the actors' freedom. Will the fiery and
patriotic Carmela consent? |
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Flamenco
(Flamenco)
Carlos
Saura
Spain -
1995 |
As a hall fills with performers, a narrator says that flamenco came from
Andalucia, a mix of Greek psalms, Mozarabic dirges, Castillian ballads,
Jewish laments, Gregorian chants, African rhythms, and Iranian and
Romany melodies. The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each
with song, guitar, and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca,
an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are
tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician
women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final
rumba. |
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Tango, no me Dejes Nunca (Tango, Never Leave Me)
Carlos
Saura
Spain –
1998 |
Set in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the film tells the story of director
Mario Suarez's quest to make the ultimate tango film. Lonely after his
wife (one of the film's stars) has left him, Mario must find the themes
that will hold the film together, while simultaneously permitting his
musicians and dancers the freedom of expression that is necessary to
satisfy the tango-hungry Argentine audience. Things become complicated
when Mario falls in love with Elena, a beautiful and talented young
dancer who is the girlfriend of the powerful and dangerous Angelo
Larroca, an investor in the picture. And Mario's creative vision is
challenged by his investors when he plans a scene that recreates
Argentina's dark years of political suppression and "disappearances". |
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Nominated |
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Tesis
(Thesis)
Alejandro Amenabar
Spain -
1996
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Why is death and violence so fascinating? Is it morally correct to show
violence in movies? If so, is there a limit to what we should show?
That's the subject of Ángela's examination paper. She is a young student
at a film school in Madrid. Together with the student Chema (who is
totally obsessed with violent movies) they find a snuff movie in which a
young girl is tortured and killed. Soon they discover that the girl was
a former student at their school... |
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Abre los
Ojos
(Open Your Eyes)
Alejandro Amenabar
Spain -
1997 |
An imprisoned man hides his face behind a mask is telling his story, as
a flashback, to a psychiatrist: his name is César, he is an orphan but
he had inherited a fortune from his parents, and he used to live in a
luxurious house of his his own. He was also very handsome and a renowned
womanizer. His best friend, Pelayo, was jealous of César because he was
not very successful with women. But one night, Pelayo showed up in one
of César's parties with a beautiful woman named Sofía. When César met
her and talked to her for a while, he began to feel something he had
never felt before: love. And, although she was supposed to be Pelayo's
girlfriend, he tried to woo her, spending that night at her home. |
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Mar Adentro
(The Sea Inside) |
Life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to
win the right to end his life with dignity. Film explores Ramón's
relationships with two women: Julia, a lawyer who supports his cause,
and Rosa, a local woman who wants to convince him that life is worth
living. Through the gift of his love, these two women are inspired to
accomplish things they never previously thought possible. Despite his
wish to die, Ramón taught everyone he encountered the meaning, value and
preciousness of life. Though he could not move himself, he had an
uncanny ability to move others. |
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Alejandro Amenabar |
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Spain –
2004
Winner
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El Orfanato
(The Orphanage) |
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an
orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to
communicate with an invisible new friend. |
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Guillermo Del Toro |
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Spain -
2007 |
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El Espinazo del Diablo
(The Devil's Backbone)
Guillermo Del Toro
Spain -
2001 |
It is 1939, the end of three years of bloody civil war in Spain, and
General Franco's right-wing Nationalists are poised to defeat the
left-wing Republican forces. A ten-year-old boy named Carlos (Fernando
Tielve), the son of a fallen Republican war hero, is left by his tutor
in an orphanage in the middle of nowhere. The orphanage is run by a curt
but considerate headmistress named Carmen (Marisa Paredes) and a kindly
Professor Casares, both of whom are sympathetic to the doomed Republican
cause. Despite their concern for him, and his gradual triumph over the
usual schoolhouse bully, Carlos never feels completely comfortable in
his new environment. |
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Belle Époque
(The Age Of Beauty) |
In 1931, a young soldier (Fernando) deserts from the army and falls into
a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner (Manolo) due to his
political ideas. Manolo has four daughters (Rocio, Violeta, Clara and
Luz). Fernando likes all of them and they like him, so he has to decide
which one to love. |
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Fernando Trueba |
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Spain –
1992
Winner
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Jamon Jamon
(A Tale of Ham and Passion)
Bigas
Luna
Spain -
1992 |
Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his
girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor. When Sylvia falls pregnant,
Jose Luis promises her that he will marry her, most likely against the
wishes of his parents. Jose Luis' mother is determined to break her
son's engagement to a girl from a lower-class family, and hires Raul, a
potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter to seduce Sylvia. |
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Lucia y el Sexo
(Lucia and Sex)
Julio Medem
Spain -
2001 |
Lucía is a young waitress in a restaurant in the centre of Madrid. After
the loss of her long-time boyfriend, a writer, she seeks refuge on a
quiet, secluded Mediterranean island. There, bathed in an atmosphere of
fresh air and dazzling sun, Lucía begins to discover the dark corners of
her past relationship, as if they were forbidden passages of a novel
which the author now, from afar, allows her to read. |
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Los Amantes del Circulo Polar
(Lovers from the North Pole)
Julio
Medem
Spain -
1998 |
Otto and Ana are kids when they meet each other. Their names are
palindromes. They meet by chance, people are related by chance. A story
of circular lives, with circular names, and a circular place (Círculo
polar) where the day never ends in the midnight sun. There are things
that never end, and Love is one of them. |
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La Lengua de Las Mariposas
(The Tongue of the Butterflies)
Jose Luis Cuerda
Spain -
1999 |
For Moncho, it's an idyllic year: he starts school, he has a wonderful
teacher, he makes a friend in Roque, he begins to figure out some of the
mysteries of Eros, and, with his older brother, a budding saxophone
player, he makes a trip with the band from their town in Galicia. But
it's also the year that the Spanish Republic comes under fire from
Fascist rebels. Moncho's father is a Republican as is the aging teacher,
Don Gregorio. As sides are drawn and power falls clearly to one side,
the forces of fear, violence, and betrayal alter profoundly what should
be the pleasure of coming of age. |
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Sobrevivire
(I Will Survive)
Alfonso Albacete y
David Menkes
Spain -
1999 |
Marga (Emma Suarez) is having a streak of bad luck. Through her
friendship with Rosa (Mirta Ibarra), she tries to regain her
self-confidence, but love interests again create conflict. It is while
developing a relationship with a handsome gay sculptor ten years her
junior: Inaqui (Juan Diego Botto), that she starts to improve. However,
Marga and Inaqui go beyond friendship, but are frustrated by their
limitations. Ultimately, the two may have to settle for an "impossible"
love relationship, as their unique best road to happiness. |
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Boca A Boca
(Mouth To Mouth) |
For financial reasons an unemployed aspiring actor works for a phone-sex
enterprise. One day he receives a call from the mysterious wife of one
of his best clients. |
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Manuel Gomez Pereira |
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Spain -
1995 |
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Intacto
(Intact)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Spain -
2001
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An enigmatic tale of four people whose lives are intertwined by destiny
are subject to the laws of fate. They discover that luck is something
they cannot afford to be without as they gamble with the highest stakes
possible in a deadly game from which only one of them will emerge
intact. There is Tomas, a young thief and the sole survivor of a
horrific plane crash; Federico, who survived a massive earthquake and
discovered he has the power to rob those around him of their good
fortune with a touch; Sam, a casino owner who is the ultimate survivor
after losing everything but his own life in the terrible conflagration
that enveloped Europe during the Second World War; and Sara, a
policewoman who walked away from a car crash that killed her family and
becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a clandestine gambling
ring where death and luck intermingle. |
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Te Doy Mis Ojos
(Take My Eyes) |
One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a
few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her.
He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her
eyes"... |
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Iciar Bollain |
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Spain -
2003 |
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Machuca
(Machuca)
Andres Wood
Spain -
2004
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In 1973, in Santiago of Chile of the first socialist president
democratically elected in a Latin-American country, President Salvador
Allende, the principal of the Saint Patrick School, Father McEnroe
(Ernesto Malbran) makes a trial of integration between students of the
upper and lower classes. The bourgeois boy Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer)
and the boy from the slum Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) become great
friends, while the conflicts on the streets leads Chile to the bloody
and repressive military coup of General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September
1973, changing definitely their lives, their relationship and their
country. |
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Soldados de Salamina
(Salamina Soldiers)
David Truba
Spain -
2003 |
When the professor and writer Lola Sánchez (Ariadna Gil) is assigned to
write a column in the newspaper about the Spanish Civil War, she
researches and finds for the first time about the shooting of Rafael
Sánchez Mazas (Ramon Fontserè). Lola has lost her passion for writing,
and she becomes intrigued about Rafael, who was a writer and journalist
that returned to Spain from the Italy of Mussolini and founded the
fascist party Spanish Falange, becoming advisor of the leader Jose
Antonio Primo de Rivera. When the lefts won the election in 1936, the
Falange became illegal, and later there was a military coup d'stat.
Rafael miraculously escaped from the shooting and was spared by an
unknown soldier. |
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A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years
before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the
accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his
life. This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with
which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo
Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he
directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his
pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can¿t direct films he can only survive
with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena. |
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Los Abrazos Rotos
(Broken Embraces)
Pedro
Almodovar
Spain -
2009 |
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