Two-day Spanish film festival kicks off in city

Kolkata: If the election hustings of the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls left the art-loving Bengalis too weary then a two-day Spanish film festival in the city that kicked off on Tuesday is all set to provide a breather.

The Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts in association with the Instituto Cervantes New Delhi are hosting a two-day Spanish film festival at Nandan-III on June 18 and 19. The festival is screening four outstanding Spanish cinema in which three films are of the famous auteur Carlos Saura who more than once has gone ahead to defy Francisco Franco’s dictatorship to ensure people aren’t deprived of good cinema that holds a mirror to the socio-political issues of his country. Saura gained international fame with ‘La Caza’ (The Hunt) which bagged the Silver Bear for best direction at the 1996 Berlinale.

Spanish cinema has often reflected the nation’s political landscape, especially during the time of Franco’s dictatorship and then its transition to democracy. Spanish auteurs such as Pedro Almodovar and Luis Bunuel have often used subjects of repression, freedom and social change in their films.

In the festival, the three Saura movies that are to be screened are: ‘Ay, Carmela!’, ‘Goya enBurdeos’ and ‘Cria Cuervos’. Among these, ‘Ay, Carmela!’ speaks of two travelling entertainers, Carmela and Paulino, who are trouping through Spain to perform their act before the Republican troops. Early one morning on their way back to Valencia, the artists find themselves in Franco-controlled territory.They are taken, imprisoned and forced to do a show for their captors.Swallowing their pride and hiding their disgust, the entertainers agree to do so.

The movie ‘Goya enBurdeos’ focuses on Spain’s one of the most important painters, Francisco de Goya. In the cinema, the painter reflects on his life while living in exile in Bordeaux. Grappling with his fears for his homeland, overshadowed by the chaos of war and revolutions, he explains in flashbacks how he came to paint.