The 2018 Spanish Film Festival (SFF) opens in Brisbane on Thursday 26 April with a fiesta and screening of street dancing musical comedy The Tribe (La Tribu) at Palace Cinema Barracks. The 20 day festival showcasing 25 films will close with Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. The Mexican director recently took home four Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, for his underwater romance The Shape of Water. To celebrate, del Toro’s classic dark fairytale will be brought back to the big screen to close the 2018 Festival.
Special event screenings of the film that skyrocketed to the top of the 2018 Spanish box office, entitled No Filter (Sin rodeos), will also take place, with drinks and music before the film. The Reel Espanol spotlight celebrates all the best new Spanish cinema, with hit dramas including Loving Pablo, award winning The Open Door, historical epic Gold, and Dying, from breakout director Fernando Franco. The section also celebrates all the humour of Spanish culture with a selection of comedies, including Lord, Give Me Patience (Señor, dame paciencia), and heist comedy Operation Goldenshell.
The Reel Directoras sidebar showcases the innovative work being produced by the next generation of Spain’s female directors. The program includes four feature debuts, including Carla Simón’s internationally award-winning Summer 1993, which has amassed 28 award wins and 44 nominations across the globe. Reel Retrospective: The Bigas Luna Tribute, a four film program will celebrate the work of international Spanish director Bigas Luna, who launched the careers of Javier Bardem, Jordi Mollà and Penelope Cruz. The retrospective includes his critically acclaimed Iberian Portraits Trilogy, as well as the 2017 posthumous documentary Bigas X Bigas.
Screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández, of Durham University, and Professor Alfredo Martínez Expósito, of The University of Melbourne. Drinks and tapas will also be served with Spanish guitar music. SFF will also include the Reel Infantil section for child friendly films, including Disney Pixar’s Academy Award winning Coco. The Spanish Film Festival will take place at Palace Barracks and Palace Centro from 26 April to 13 May 2018. The full program can be found on the SFF website.
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