spanish cinema now december 8 - 27, 2000 photo: nico and dani / krámpack

see information about our box office sales here. film descriptions and times In conjunction with this series we are presenting a photographic tribute to Spanish Women Directors in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater. Panel Discussion: Women & Cinema in Spain and the USA In conjunction with our sidebar program on Spanish women directors, there will be a panel of Spanish and American filmmakers who will discuss the changing status and roles within their respective film industries. Spanish participants include directors Laura Mañas, Gracia Querejeta, and Dolores Valles; US participants are Nancy Savoca, writer/director (24 HOUR WOMAN), Mira Nair, write/director (THE PEREZ FAMILY), Bette Gordon, writer/director (LUMINOUS MOTION), co-Chair, Film Department, Columbia University. Sat Dec 9: 4:30 (free admission for ticket holders of any film of the series) Presented in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE) and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture (ICAA). Special thanks also to the Women's Institute of the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Services, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America for their support of this series. The holiday season comes especially early for Walter Reade audiences, as each December we dedicate the lion's share of our program to both new and classic Spanish cinema. When the series began in 1992, the film industry in Spain was facing a deep crisis; production was down, and domestic audiences seemed to be staying away from Spanish films. The past few years, however, have witnessed a virtual renaissance of filmmakers and filmmaking; new talents have successfully reached Spain's younger generation, making it perhaps the most loyal of all domestic audiences for Spanish films. Established directors, such as José Luis Borau, Ventura Pons, Imanol Uribe and Gonzalo Suárez, continue to make fresh, provocative works, while several Spanish actors — Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes and now Javier Bardem—have become popular and critically acclaimed internationally. Join us for this year's selection, which includes sidebars dedicated to Spanish actor Javier Bardem as well as to Spanish women directors. program:

jamón jamón la comunidad extasis / ecstasy

Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors The past decade has seen the emergence of an impressive number of feature films by women, many of which have premiered in earlier editions of Spanish Cinema Now. These works offer fresh, often unexpected takes on contemporary Spanish life and society, at times exploring themes or issues previously passed over. This brief sidebar on Spanish women directors includes the final masterwork of the late Pilar Miró, DOG IN THE MANGER, as well as one of the biggest hits of last year's series, Iciar Bollain's FLOWERS FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Gracia Querejeta, daughter of pioneering film producer Elías Querejeta, is represented by her most recent, and finest film, COME BACK TO MY SIDE, which features an outstanding performance by well-loved Cuban actor Jorge Perrugoría. Also included is a provocative new documentary, Ana Diez's THE MAFIA IN HAVANA, a fascinating look at the mob's long involvement in Cuban life and politics. A panel discussion on Women and Cinema in Spain and the USA will take place on December 9. Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors COME BACK TO MY SIDE / CUANDO VUELVAS A MI LADO Gracia Querejeta, Spain, 1999; 97m Three sisters — Gloria, Ana and Lidia — meet again to be with their dying mother, Adela, who has not spoken for over thirty years. Their journeys back home conjure up memories of events which, although never openly discussed, continue to dominate their emotional lives. For her third feature film, Gracia Querejeta has created an elegant, deeply moving study of women whose inability to deal with the past stops them from having any real future. The film moves gracefully between characters and their respective visions of the past; the great Cuban actor Jorge Perrugoría powerfully portrays the key role of these women’s father — in many ways the key to their situations. Fri Dec 8: 1; Sun Dec 10: 9 NOBODY KNOWS ANYBODY / NADIE CONOCE A NADIE Mateo Gil, Spain, 1999; 108m The long-awaited first feature by Mateo Gil, well-known for his screenplays for Alejandro Amenábar (Tesìs, Open Your Eyes), NOBODY KNOWS ANYBODY unreels against the background of Holy Week in Seville, a time when the hooded, starkly dressed supplicants recall the Spanish legacy of secret societies and hidden networks of power. Simón (heartthrob Eduardo Noriega), an aspiring writer earning a living creating crossword puzzles, receives a cryptic message threatening him with death if certain words don't appear in his puzzles. His investigation leads him to believe that he's an unwitting player in a cruel game masterminded by those closest to him, culminating in an extraordinary final chase that brilliantly uses the city's winding streets and remarkable architecture. One of the year's most impressive debuts. Fri Dec 8: 3; Sun Dec 10: 6:45; Tue Dec 12: 3:15 LA COMUNIDAD Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, 2000; 106m The great Carmen Maura gives one of her best performances in this most recent hit of Alex de la Iglesia, one of Spanish cinema's truest "bad boys." (Accìón Mutante, Day of the Beast, Dying of Laughter). La Maura plays Julia, a real estate agent who in the course of her work discovers 300 million pesetas stashed under the tiles of a dead man's apartment. And that's not all: there's also a winning lottery ticket that's never been redeemed. It's like a dream come true - until Julia discovers that the neighbors of the deceased also seem to have some interest in taking over this hidden fortune. Shot in a florid, grand style, with terrific ensemble performances, LA COMUNIDAD is De la Iglesia's version of a thriller for our times. Fri Dec 8: 5:15; Sat Dec 9: 9:15 Panel Discussion: Women & Cinema in Spain and the USA In conjunction with our sidebar program this season on Spanish women directors, there will be a panel featuring Spanish and American filmmakers to discuss the changing status and roles within their respective film industries. Sat Dec 9: 4:30 (free admission) Discovering Javier Bardem With his winning of the Volpi Prize for Best Actor at this year's Venice Film Festival for his extraordinary performance as Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls, Spanish actor Javier Bardem was immediately hailed as one of the most exciting actors working today. Bardem is the kind of actor who seems to plunge himself body and soul into his performances; even in his comic roles, there's an intensity that seems to light up the screen. Since his amazing debut in Bigas Luna's JAMÓN, JAMÓN, Javier Bardem has taken on an extraordinary range of roles, constantly challenging himself and expanding his already impressive range. With the New York release of Before Night Falls slated for late December, we here offer a chance to discover (or rediscover) Javier Bardem in some of his finest performances. JAMÓN, JAMÓN Bigas Luna, Spain, 1991; 94m As outrageous as it is often outrageously funny, JAMÓN, JAMÓN established Bigas Luna as an important international talent. Silvia (beautiful Penélope Cruz), the daughter of a roadside bar hostess, discovers that she’s pregnant by her boyfriend, José Luis, privileged son of a local underwear manufacturer. The boy’s mother, Conchita (Stefania Sandrelli, giving a great performance), is set to put an end to her son’s relationship, and hires well-built hunk Raoul (Javier Bardem) to do the dirty work. With visual quotes ranging from Goya to Sergio Leone, JAMÓN, JAMÓN is a delight from start to finish, gleefully dissecting its characters, their dreams and especially their pretensions. Wed Dec 20: 1 & 9:15 THE WASHINGTON WOLVES / LOS LOBOS DE WASHINGTON Mariano Barroso, 1999; 93m A blackly hilarious comedy about three losers who conspire to break into bigtime success by building a parking garage; trouble is, when push comes to shove, Miguel (Eduardo Fernandez), Alberto (Javier Bardem) and Claudio (José Sancho) have absolutely no qualms — of friendship or ethics — about selling each other out. There are plenty of pushes and lots of shoves in the series of dangerous, yet very funny, adventures which follow. Director Barroso can’t be faulted in his deft creation of the kind of urban milieux where the weakest links in the food chain desperately scheme for upward mobility. Wed Dec 20: 5; Sun Dec 24: 6

second skin / segunda piel friends have reasons / la razones de mis amigos the goalkeeper / el portero

ECSTASY / EXTASIS Mariano Barroso, 1995; 93m Rober (Javier Bardem) is a 25-year-old rebel who hates authority and refuses to make any sort of commitment. He and his friends Max and Ona dream up a scam to raise money so that they can fund their idleness. The idea is that Rober will impersonate Max in order to coerce money from Daniel, Max’s father, who abandoned him when he was just a baby. Daniel, a prominent stage director, not only gives Rober money but also a job — and it’s not long before the false son has been corrupted by luxury and glamor, the very world he once professed to despise. That’s when Max and Ona come calling.... Wed Dec 20: 3 & 7; Sat Dec 23: 4 SECOND SKIN / SEGUNDA PIEL Gerardo Vera, Spain, 1999; 106m Twenty-something couple Alberto and Elena are going through a difficult time in their relationship; they've grown apart, hardly share any interests, and moreover, Elena suspects that Alberto's mind is on someone else. Enter Diego (Javier Bardem); caught in a triangle of conflicting emotions, each struggles to determine what they really want from the others but more importantly from themselves. Sexually frank and emotionally raw, SECOND SKIN offers a sophisticated take, decidedly contemporary, on the nature of relationships. This is the most personal film that Gerardo Vera has made so far; he said that he "felt rather naked" after making it. Wed Dec 27: 1, 5:15 & 9:30 NUMBERED DAYS / DIAS CONTADOS Imanol Uribe, Spain, 1994; 95m Winner of the Grand Prize at the 1984 San Sebastian Film Festival, DAYS is a taut, contemporary thriller set in an urban netherworld where political terrorists brush up against Madrid’s thriving drug trade. An ETA (Basque Liberation Front) operative (Javier Bardem) on a bombing mission meets a girl, Charo, seemingly trapped in a downward spiral of drugs and prostitution; the notion of "liberation" takes on a new meaning, as the fate of an individual is weighed against a long-term political commitment. Director Uribe — himself a Basque, and whose earlier films have dealt with various Basque issues - blends elements of Bizet’s Carmen into this clear-eyed look at the difficulty of separating the personal from the political. Wed Dec 27: 3:15 & 7:30 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors COMPASSIONATE SEX / SEXO POR COMPASIÓN Laura Mañá, Spain/Mexico, 2000; 107m COMPASSIONATE SEX is one of those films that arrives without fanfare, yet explodes with boundless energy and originality. — Ramiro Puerta, Toronto International Film Festival. This delicious first feature by actress Laura Mañà is a Garcia Lorca - like tale about the surprising consequences of unexpected saintliness. In a quiet, somewhat isolated town, Dolores is universally cherished for her seemingly boundless generosity by all except her husband, who leaves her. Thinking the only way to win her husband back might be to roughen up her image, she goes to bed with an anonymous man - and inadvertently saves his life. Her sin now seen as an act of charity, soon she's offering herself to the other men in town. The wonderful ensemble cast features an array of actors from both Spain and Mexico. Sat Dec 9: 6:30; Tue Dec 12: 1 TO DIE (OR NOT) / MORIR (O NO) Ventura Pons, Spain, 1999; 92m Ventura Pons — subject of a special tribute during last year’s series — returns this year with an adaptation of a stage play by Sergi Belbel. The film is an intelligent and sobering look at the last, precious moments in the lives of seven people, introduced in a series of powerful vignettes. The first half, "To Die", shot in luminous black and white, confronts death in all its facets; the second "Or Not," wittily offers a series of "what ifs," that tip precarious balance between life and death the other way. Pons effectively plays with the audience’s responses, subtly shifting the stories and our sympathies. The film features many performers from what’s become Pons' "stock company," as well as Catalan actor Sergi Lopez, who recently made a strong impression in the French/Belgian film An Affair of Love. Wed Dec 13: 1, 5 & 8:45 FRIENDS HAVE REASONS / LAS RAZONES DE MIS AMIGOS Gerardo Herrero, Spain, 2000; 85m One of Spain’s finest film producers, Gerardo Herrero makes his most impressive outing yet as director in this perceptive look at the changing relationships among three college friends moving towards middle age. Adapted from a story by Belén Gopegui, FRIENDS begins as Carlos, struggling to get his electronics business off the ground, asks his two long-time friends Marta and Santiago, to lend him some money in order to help his business expand. Both comply with his request, but the loans haunt all their encounters, straining their relationships with each other as well as with their partners. Not interested in depicting heroes or villains, Herrero instead skillfully details the continuing, and growing series of compromises each character is forced to make. Wed Dec 13: 3 & 7 THE GOALKEEPER / EL PORTERO Gonzalo Suárez, Spain, 2000; 85m Manuel Hidalgo's parable of popular resistance in the Franco years has been lovingly adapted to the screen by novelist/filmmaker Suárez. The year is 1948. The poverty-stricken countryside of Asturias remains under the ever vigilant eye of the Guardia Civil especially as the hills hide a band of "maquis" (rebels fighting against Franco). One day the former goalkeeper of the legendary soccer club Real Madrid arrives; he now makes a living putting on exhibitions with the local inhabitants, who pay money to see if they can score on him. Yet when the head of the local Guardia decides to see if his men can outscore the townspeople, the goalkeeper suddenly becomes the focal point for several political and romantic intrigues all happening simultaneously. The excellent cast includes Maribel Verdú, Carmelo Gómez and Antonio Resines. Thu Dec 14: 1 & 5; Sun Dec 17: 1:30 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors TO THOSE WHO LOVE / A LOS QUE AMAN Isabel Coixet, Spain, 1998; 97m In the 18th century, in the course of one night, an old man recounts a remarkable tale to a mesmerized youth. It is the saga of the storyteller’s own life, one that is filled with great passion, as he changes professions and places, but never wavers in his all-consuming love for the beautiful Matilde. That love arose in his childhood, just at the moment when two strangers — a fencing master and his dreaming solitary daughter — appeared in the neighborhood. After her great success with the U.S.-shot Things I Never Told You, Isabel Coixet turned to a period film which nevertheless has a very modern feel to it. Thu Dec 14: 3; Sat Dec 16: 5

yoyoes regarding buñuel / a propósito de buñuel leo

Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors YOYES Helena Taberna, Spain, 1999; 104m A powerful, and timely work of real political significance, the title character in Yoyes was the first woman to have occupied a powerful position with the militant Basque separatist organization ETA. Beautifully played by Ana Torrent who as a child was so memorable in Erice’s Spirit of the Beehive and Saura’s Cria Cuervos—Yoyes returns from exile in Mexico with the hope of starting a new life. During her time away she’s made some decided changes in her life: she’s gone back to school, preparing for a professional career, and moreover she’s become a mother. Her former comrades in the movement, however, see her unwillingness to return to the struggle as outright betrayal. Fri Dec 15: 1 & 5:15; Sun Dec 17: 3:15 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors MY NAME IS SARA / ME ILAMO SARA Dolores Payás, Spain, 1998; 98m A winner of several "Goyas" for Best Actress, Elvira Minguez is once again outstanding in the title tole of Sara in this Catalan-set drama. At forty Sara seems to have achieved the perfect balance in both her personal and professional lives: she has a job she likes, a lovely and loving adolescent daughter, and a signigficant "other" with whom she’s been involved for years. Then suddenly everything begins to change; the old certainties seem to disappear, and Sara is forced to reassess where she wants her life to be heading. Here making her feature film debut, director Dolores Payás offers a sharp, clear-eyed look at Sara’s world and her changing fortunes. Fri Dec 15: 3:15 & 9:15 REGARDING BUÑUEL / A PROPÓSITO DE BUÑUEL José Luis López-Linares, Javier Rioyo, Spain, 2000; 90m Two of Spain’s finest documentary filmmakers, López-Linares and Rioyo were last seen in Spanish Cinema Now with their brilliant film Assault the Skies, about Trotsky’s assassin Ramón Mercader. In commemoration of Luis Buñuel's centenary, the two have now made a remarkable portrait of one of the cinema’s unquestionable masters. López-Linares and Rioyo sought out friends and collaborators, as well as Buñuel’s relatives from Calanda, and weaved their testimonies together with historical documents and fragments from his films to create a work both wonderfully insightful and hugely entertaining. Fri Dec 15: 7:20; Sun Dec 17: 5:30 NICO AND DANI ("KRÁMPACK") Cesc Gay, Spain, 2000; 90m One of the happiest surprises at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and winner of the "Youth Prize" (Prix de Jeunesse), KRÁMPACK chronicles the summer holiday of two teenage boys who test the limits of their friendship while discovering much about themselves. Dani and Nico are left on their own at Dani's beach house for a few days; late night dates and in-house parties promise to be the order of the day, but then it suddenly appears that their respective sexual awakenings are leading them in different directions. This second film by Cesc Gay is graced with two wonderful performances by Fernando Ramallo (already praised for his work in Carreteras Secundarias) and newcomer Jordi Vilches, who together capture that moment between the stifling safety of childhood and the invigorating terror of adulthood. Sat Dec 16: 7; Sun Dec 17: 9:15 Tue Dec 19: 3 ASFALTO Daniel Calparsoro, Spain, 1999; 90m The thin lines between love and hate, violence and desire, criminality and probity, are repeatedly violated in this tense, brilliantly directed thriller about marginal low-lifes in Madrid. With some of the grim vérité style of '70s American cinema, ASFALTO tells the story of a bitter and perverse love triangle among drug-dealing hipsters who are trying, with little success, to figure out which side of the law—and of sexual convention — they want to be on. With each new film, Daniel Calparsoro enlarges the already impressive range of his talent; once again, his lead actress is Najwa Nimri, who gives an astonishing performance as young woman constantly alternating between volatile aggression and vulnerability. She’s ably aided by Juan Diego Botto and Gustavo Salmerún, as well as by Antonia San Juan (last seen in Almodovar’s All About My Mother), who plays Nimri’s drug-addled mom. Sat Dec 16: 9; Tue Dec 19: 5 & 8:45 LEO José Luis Borau, Spain, 2000; 85m A key figure of the Spanish "new wave" of the early Seventies, Jose Luis Borau (Furtivos) here fashions a story set in the netherworld in which illegal immigration and organized crime feed off each other. Iciar Bollain, who in recent years has devoted herself mainly to directing (FLOWERS OF ANOTHER WORLD) makes her return to the screen as actress, playing a homeless woman who collects discarded cardboard boxes for money. She attracts the attention of a security guard, who gets her a job in a sweatshop staffed mainly by Romanian emigrants. Yet as the guard's attraction - and soon obsession - for her grows, he discovers the complex emotional entanglements that still dominate this woman's life. As in Borau's other films, we are gradually brought into a world that co-exists with our own but which has its own rules and realities. Sun Dec 17: 7:30; Tue Dec 19: 1 & 7

the dog in the manger gitano monkeys like becky

Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors THE DOG IN THE MANGER / EL PERRO DEL HORTELANO Pilar Miró, Spain, 1995; 109m In Miró’s final masterpiece, a sumptuous period piece, Countess Belflor is madly in love with Teodoro, her secretary. Needless to say, social status stands in the way of consummation, but the countess is not about to allow the object of her desire to marry a young woman in her entourage. For his part, Teodoro wavers between the promise of passion, always just out of grasp, and the reality of love at hand. It takes a lowly servant, motivated by his own goals, to unravel this emotional contretemps. Thurs Dec 21: 1, 5:30 & 9:45 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors FLOWERS FROM ANOTHER WORLD / FLORES DE OTRO MUNDO Icíar Bollain, 1999; 106m Santa Eulalia, a Spanish village lacking marriageable women, decides to organize a dance for bachelors to which single ladies from all around the country will be invited, chauffeured by chartered bus. Needless to say, a mixed, very colorful bouquet of "flowers" — from the Caribbean and elsewhere — delivers drama and beauty in Icíar Bollain's distaff report on war and peace among men and women, along with socio-economic stress, culture-clash and race relations in rural Spain. Thurs Dec 21: 3:15 & 7:40 GITANO Manuel Palacios, Spain, 2000; 93m After spending two years in prison, accused of a crime he did not commit, gypsy Andrés Heredia (Joaquin Cortéz) is set free. The only thing he wants now is to start a new life and forget a painful past of treachery and failed dreams. Headed by the patriarch, his family is expecting his arrival in order to settle some pending matters with him. Others fear his return and see him as a serious threat to their interests. And then there is Lucía, his wife, whom Andrés cannot forget despite her betrayal. All these characters drag Andrés to a reencounter with his past and to the discovery of the terrible truth; it is a painful but unavoidable road that Andres must travel in order to obtain his passport to freedom. Fri Dec 22: 1 & 5; Sat Dec 23: 6 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors I KNOW WHO YOU ARE / SÉ QUIÁN ERES Patricia Ferreira, Spain/Argentina, 1999; 100m Ana Fernández, so impressive in Solas, takes on a totally different kind of role in this haunting portrait of Spain at the moment of the transition to democracy, the first film directed by actress Patricia Ferreira. Paloma (Fernández), a young psychiatrist, takes up her new position as director of a clinic in a remote area of Galicia. One of her patients immediately attracts her interest: Mario (Miguel Angel Solá), who is suffering from Korsakow syndrome, a severe form of amnesia. Fascinated, she begins an intense investigation of Mario’s past, during which their relationship grows increasingly personal. But behind Mario’s lost memory lies a past that could well prove dangerous for both of them. Fri Dec 22: 3 & 9 Fresh Looks: Spanish Women Directors THE MAFIA IN HAVANA / LA MAFIA EN LA HABANA Ana Díez, Spain, 1999; 74m Direct testimonies by croupiers, henchmen, revolutionaries, ex-holders of important positions with Cuban governments before and after the Revolution, as well as with the occasional musician, bring us into to the world of near-mythical characters such as Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky in this history of organized crime in Cuba. Through the testimonies of these witnesses to that late night, behind the scenes world, we also see just how far the American Mafia was ready to go in its attempts to recover the "Havana Empire". Backed by archive images, often previously unseen, this is a historical and musical memory of a fascinating period in the Cuban capital. Fri Dec 22: 7; Sun Dec 24: 4; Tue Dec 26: 7:30 PLENILUNIO Imanol Uribe, Spain, 2000; 119m Based on the powerful novel by Antonio Muñoz Molina, PLENILUNIO begins as a police investigator is assigned to look into the death of a young girl in a provincial city. Living alone as his wife is being treated in a clinic for depression, the investigator meets the girl's teacher, and soon begins a tentative affair; meanwhile the murderer plots his next move. Uribe (Diás Contados), one of Spain's finest directors, masterfully employs elements of the contemporary thriller genre to create a film that's among his most personal. At the heart of this tale is once again the drama of betrayal, of discovering the moment in which one must make a decision no matter what the consequences. For Uribe himself, the film is "a reflection on horror and love, which sometimes co-exist so close to one another." Sun Dec 10: 4:15; Sat Dec 23: 8 Tue Dec 26: 1 5:15 MONKEYS LIKE BECKY / MONOS COMO BECKY Joaquín Jordá, Núria Villazán, Spain, 1999; 97m One of the weirdest mixtures of reality and fiction recently seen, MONKEYS LIKE BECKY is based on the true story of the Nobel Prize winning Portuguese neurologist Egaz Moniz. In the early 1930s, Moniz attended a conference in London in which an American biologist presented a docile, rather charming monkey named Becky. He then showed a film in which Becky was shown to have been formerly a wild, savage beast; the transformation, according to the American, was effected by an ablation to the central lobe of the chimp’s brain. It dawns on Moniz that such a procedure might prove effective for the schizophrenics under his care, and thus the practice of mental lobotomies was born. Jordá and Villazán wryly demonstrate how Moniz’s story epitomizes the intersection of science, psychiatry and social control. Tue Dec 26: 3:15 & 9:15