Luis García Berlanga: pasado, presente y futuro del cine español (2021)

The Memory of Cinema: A Film About Fernando Méndez-Leite

A look at the life and work of Spanish filmmaker and film critic Fernando Méndez-Leite, as he writes his memoirs and a novel with autobiographical resonances.

The First Look

In Spain, a poor country ruined by the recent Civil War (1936-39), and in the midst of Franco's dictatorship, a film school was created in Madrid in 1947, which became, almost unintentionally, a space of freedom and pure experimentation until its closure in 1976.

Uncensored Women

The story of a group of actresses who, in the Spain of the seventies, and in the midst of the democratic Transition, decided to appear nude in the films of that time of radical political change, defying the rigid and deeply rooted social rules.

Stories of Our Cinema

In Spain, on May 11, 1896, at the Price circus, the first moving images ever shown in the country are projected. From that event, the Spanish actor Antonio Resines intends to compile a series of anecdotes to shape the amazing history of Spanish cinema, holding several conversations with prominent figures of the Spanish film industry.

The Critic

A portrait of film critic Carlos Boyero, one of the most followed and feared figures in Spanish cinema, surrounded by controversy and both love and hate.

[REC]: Horror Without Pause

The horror film [REC] — directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, and released in 2007 — was an unprecedented triumph for Spanish fantasy cinema. Fifteen years later, those responsible for the creation and worldwide success of this cinematic milestone decode its keys and resurrect the myth.

Heirs of the Beast

The story of the making and subsequent success of The Day of the Beast, the Spanish cult film directed by Álex de la Iglesia and released in 1995.

Penélope Cruz: Diva in the Mirror

An account of the life and work of Spanish actress Penélope Cruz: a long journey that began in the working-class neighborhoods of Madrid and ended in the hills of Hollywood.

El joven Berlanga

The early days of the future genius of Spanish cinema Luis García Berlanga, from his birth in Valencia in 1921 to his departure to Madrid in 1947 to become a filmmaker.

The Voice of Thaïs

Clara Mingueza, an actress from Barcelona, sets out to move the mortal remains of Elena Jordi (1882-1945), vaudeville star, actress and the first woman director of Spanish cinema, to her hometown, while trying to find a copy of Thaïs, the only film she directed.

Journey to Somewhere

A young woman, who has inherited her grandparents' huge house, a fascinating place full of amazing objects, feels overwhelmed by the weight of memories and her new responsibilities. Fortunately, the former inhabitants of the house soon come to her aid. (An account of the life and work of Fernando Fernán Gómez [1921-2007] and his wife Emma Cohen [1946-2016], two singular artists and fundamental figures of contemporary Spanish culture.)

Florián Rey: Of Light and Shadow

The life and professional career of the Spanish filmmaker Florián Rey (1894-1962), a brilliant artist who began his career in silent films and had great commercial success during the Second Republic (1931-1936): a journey to the early days of Spanish cinema.

FFG, el último gran conversador

Fernando Fernán Gómez (1921-2007), actor, writer, playwright and film director, was for decades one of the most important figures in Spanish culture. His close friends and relatives reveal another facet in which he stood out above all: that of being an excellent conversationalist, capable of hypnotizing and seducing those who listened to him.

Words, Maps, Secrets and Other Things

A portrait of the internationally acclaimed Spanish film director Isabel Coixet and an analysis of her particular world and her sensibility as a creator: her fictional universe, her career and her life through the words of actors, technicians, family, friends, journalists, specialized critics and those filmmakers who have been inspired by her work.

Yo quise hacer Los bingueros 2

Plot unavailable

Berlanga: el sentimiento austrohúngaro de la vida

A journey through the life, work and many artistic miracles of the brilliant Spanish filmmaker Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010).

¡Ay, Carmen!

The personal and professional story, told in first person, of Spanish actress Carmen Maura, director Pedro Almodóvar's first muse and a brilliant artist in her own right.

Barefoot in the Kitchen

What was the role of women in Spanish cinema from the 1930s to the present explained through fragments of different films, both fiction and non-fiction. (Followed by “Manda huevos,” 2016.)

Susana y el sexo

The story of iconic Spanish artist Susana Estrada's struggle against censorship and sexual repression during the turbulent years following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

El Quijote desde la platea

How Don Quixote de la Mancha, the immortal character created by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605, has been depicted in cinema, television, cartoons, theater, opera, ballet and other artistic disciplines. An adventure that began more than four hundred years ago in the pages of a book and is far from coming to an end.

Berlanga!!

How does the vision of the brilliant Spanish filmmaker Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010) remain relevant in a time whose popular culture has little to do with his own? Since to understand the secrets of an artist it is essential to know the person behind, his family, his friends, his collaborators, as well as prestigious filmmakers and actors trace a collective portrait of a creator as singular as he is universal.

Gila nunca fue serio

Miguel Gila (1919-2001) was a Spanish actor and stand-up comedian, famous for his surreal phone conversations with imaginary people, and a skillful cartoonist; an idolized star, a king of laughter.

Talking About Myself Is Hard

Spanish actress Charo López finds it hard to talk about herself; but she only needs to start reminiscing to discover that her life has been truly exceptional. The story of a legendary actress told by herself.

La Antorcha de los Éxitos: Cifesa (1932-1961)

The amazing story of Cifesa, a mythical film production company founded in Valencia by the Casanova family that managed to dominate the box office during the turbulent times of the Second Spanish Republic, the carnage of the Civil War and the hardships of the long post-war period and Franco's dictatorship — and survive until the sixties, when Spain was timidly beginning to change.

Bajo el signo de las sombras

A portrait of the Spanish director Lorenzo Llobet Gràcia (1911-76), one of the outsiders of Spanish cinema, and the story of his masterpiece, a cult work that tells the story of a self-taught filmmaker who was born under the sign of the shadows, lights and chiaroscuro of cinema.

Maria and the Lost Movie

The pianist Miguel Ángel Lozano embarks on a personal and artistic journey with the purpose of reconstructing the life of his grandmother, Maria Forteza (1910-60), singer and pioneer of Spanish sound films.

Relatos del fantástico

In 1993, Jesús Parrado interviewed actor and director Jacinto Molina, world-wide known as Paul Naschy, and director Amando de Ossorio, two key figures of the Spanish fantasy cinema. In 2019, part of this footage is rescued. The rest has lost forever.

Mario Camus según el cine

A look at the life and work of Spanish filmmaker Mario Camus (1935-2021).

Arrebatad@s

An audiovisual investigation into the way Spanish cinema has represented its audience throughout history, and a tribute to those who, for over a hundred years, have inhabited the theaters, mutually nurturing their deepest dreams and aspirations.

Satan's Blood: recuerdos de «Escalofrío»

The story of the shooting of Satan's Blood (Escalofrío), a film directed by Carlos Puerto in 1978.

Hollywood rueda en España (1955-1980)

The turbulent history of the twenty-five years during which, in the midst of Franco's dictatorship, Spain was turned into an immense movie set on which many foreign production companies shot dozens of films, from westerns to historical epics.

FFG: un retrato

An experimental portrait of Fernando Fernán Gómez, one of the most renowned Spanish artists of all time.

Moonwalk

This short documentary film captures the natural movement of the moon mixed with an experimental musical track that accompanies the rhythm of the "walk" on the stage that the protagonist occupies, the sky.

Rapture

José Sirgado is a low-budget filmmaker whose heroin addiction distorts his perspective of the real world. Although he is a depressed and unstable individual, his mood improves when he receives the mysterious films of Pedro, with whom he shares his passion for cinema.

The World is Yours

Rafi sneaks into the Marchioness's hunt, which brings together all the Spanish high society, to sell them his business. He and Fali will discover that hunting is not what it seems, and that the future of Spain is being decided on the farm.

Hotel Bitcoin

A group of friends have to survive a weekend in a hotel with a huge amount of virtual money to guard, putting their ingenuity to the test.

One Day I Saw 10,000 Elephants

The octogenarian Angono Mba recalls the expedition in which he worked as porter for the Spanish filmmaker Manuel Hernández Sanjuán who, between 1944 and 1946, traveled through Spanish Guinea documenting life in the colony as he obsessively searched for a mysterious lake.

Elisa K

Eleven-year-old Elisa (Claudia Pons) lives with her father (Hans Richter) in Spain following the breakup of her parents. Elisa goes to a fair with her father, and meets one of his friends (Jordi Gracia), a successful jeweler. Days later, a change comes over Elisa -- her mother (Lydia Zimmermann) notices she seems distant and withdrawn, and her teacher (Pep Sais) watches as she grows disinterested in her studies and her grades drop dramatically. Fourteen years later, Elisa (now played by Aina Clotet) is a grown woman who suddenly and unexpectedly recalls the traumatic event changed her life when she was a girl...

Radiacions

Thirty years after exile, Francesc Lamban journalist returns to the city where he was born to reunite with an old friend, attorney Ernest Salesa. The event takes place on the beach that saw the end of their relationship, and this fact is not accidental: Salesa has a business at hand transcendental and mysterious and has to convince Lamban to be part of it, at whatever price . While that behave remove ghosts from the past and the terrible memory of a love lost tragically common.

Dreams and Crumbs

Javi and Dani go around the city trying to sell a stolen painting.

The Water

Ana, her mother and grandmother live in a small town in southeastern Spain where all three are regarded with suspicion.

Saturn Return

A rock band has to record their third LP, which will either propel them to stardom or fade into oblivion. Despite executives’ reservations, their idea is to have the recording take place in New York. But everything complicates, and the creative process turns into a hellish ordeal. A love triangle with all its consequences unfolds, band members desert, romantic relationships shatter, rehearsals become rampant with drugs and alcohol, and the unbearable pressure from the record label leads to endless fights and arguments only interrupted by fleeting moments of happiness. Meanwhile, unknowingly, they will be composing an album that will leave a mark on an entire generation.

Enchufes?

Plot unavailable

Ella y la oscuridad

A cleaner faces a deep depression after the death of her daughter. One night, she feels that someone is watching her from the darkness of an alley.

Pink Ribbon

Documentary filmmaker Kenjiro Fujii takes a look at the history of a distinctly Japanese brand of softcore pornography in this extensive examination of the "pinku eiga" genre (ピンク映画 Pinku eiga or Pinkeiga). For more than 40 years, so-called "pink" films have served as both a key source of revenue for the Japanese film industry as well as a launching pad for the careers of such mainstream filmmakers as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After providing a detailed history of the still-profitable and popular genre through interviews with a variety of behind-the-scenes players and clips from such classic pink films as Fish Bait Boobies, director Fujii shifts his focus to the production of an upcoming pink film to offer a glimpse into the creative and stylistic evolution of the genre.

Alvar Aalto: Technology and Nature

The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is one of the great figures of modern architecture, ranked alongside Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. This film analyses Aalto’s uniquely successful resolution of the demands and possibilities created by new technology and construction materials with the need to make his buildings sympathetic both to their users and to their natural surroundings. His inventive use of timber in particular represents both a reference to the forest landscape of Finland and a building material that is ‘warm’ and extremely adaptable. Filmed in Finland, Italy, Germany and the USA, this documentary shows how the Finnish natural environment and art traditions were essential elements in Aalto’s pioneering harmonization of technology and nature.

Requiem for the Big East

The meteoric ascension of the Big East conference, and how in less than a decade, it became the most successful college basketball league in America.

Char·ac·ter

A raw and candid dialogue about the life and craft of acting between longtime colleagues and friends Dabney Coleman, Peter Falk, Charles Grodin, Mark Rydell, Harry Dean Stanton and Sydney Pollack. Drago Sumonja's document takes us into the hearts, minds, and living rooms of some of America's greatest storytellers.

YouTube Bazaar

The film is submerging in the world of YouTube and internet amateur-made-films posting through the eyes of Bahoi, one of Romania's most viewed filmmakers. The first part of the movie deeply analysis his films by going to his hometown village in Romania, Peninsula, and meeting Bahoi's most famous characters. Also through Bahoi's own words we are trying to find out why is he filming so much brilliant material, why is he posting it on the internet and how he took this passion with him to the West. In the second part we are traveling along with Bahoi throughout Europe to discover more talented people and make some sense of this huge boom in filmmaking.

An Unprecedented Campaign

Made during the rapid industrialisation and collectivisation of Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. Kaufman countered the poverty of the villages with the geometrical rhythm of mechanised factories; militarisation is shown as the next step of the ‘unprecedented campaign’. "The proletariat, having become master of one sixth of the globe, frees the rural working people from the kulak oppression… THE PROLETARIAT …engages the peasantry in a joint campaign for Socialism. This is what the film speaks about".

Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing

Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment