October 20-23rd
In honor of this year’s 25th anniversary of Spain’s Goya Awards, EGEDA, the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), produced and presented by Miami Dade College, and the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts will premiere seven of the most dynamic new films from Spain, from October 20-23rd, in an inaugural Recent Cinema From Spain festival.
Held at the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center, ticket holders will enjoy nightly red carpet events and participate in Q&A sessions with filmmakers and talent following each film.
“We’re extremely proud of our collaboration with EGEDA and the Gusman Center on the Miami Recent Cinema From Spain selection,” said Jaie Laplante, executive director of the Miami International Film Festival. “This is a diverse group of films that showcases the strength and range of the Spanish producers and film industry in 2011. The lineup of artists scheduled to attend represents a spectacular array of Goya-award winning talent, and Miami will truly be getting a taste of the finest from Spain with this event.”
“Having recently opened an office in Miami, EGEDA is delighted to have an official presence in this amazing city and work in conjunction with the Los Angeles office in representing the interests of the Spanish filmmaking industry and management of intellectual property rights in Latin America,” said President of EGEDA Enrique Cerezo Torres.” “We’re thrilled to work with the Miami International Film Festival and the Gusman Center on this film festival and look forward to supporting the 2012 Miami International Film Festival.”
The complete line-up for Recent Cinema From Spain is:
Thursday, October 20th, 2011 – Opening Night
Black Bread (Pa negre): (7:30 pm) Spain’s official submission to the 2012 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category and winner of nine Goya Awards. The film chronicles the events that follow 11-year-old Andreu (Francesc Colomer) after he witnesses two brutal murders. Andreu is sent to live with extended family in the countryside where he befriends his jaded cousin Nuria (Marina Comas), who has lost her fingers due to a grenade explosion, and an imaginative boy who thinks he has angel wings. Loosely based on Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with the bleak fantastical soul of Pan’s Labyrinth, subversive filmmaker Agustí Villaronga’s harrowing and richly textured depiction of Spanish rural life during wartime is both challenging and rewarding.
Attending talent: Goya-winning producer Isona Passola is scheduled to attend and discuss the film.
Opening Night guests will be greeted with a complimentary glass of Spain’s premier cava Anna de Codorniu, Viña Zaco and Raimat wines, and chocolates courtesy of Valor, prior to the screening, and a Filmotech gift bag.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Don’t Be Afraid (No tengas miedo): (6:45 pm) – Director Montxo Armendáriz’s haunting drama delves into the long-term psychological effects caused by the abuse of children. Upon turning twenty-five, Silvia (Michelle Jenner) decides to reveal the hell she experienced and face the people, feelings and emotions that keep her bound to the past. Armendáriz blends documentary and fiction by including testimonials based on real events that are incorporated into the fictional narrative. These on-camera confessions – spoken by real victims and actors – serve to show the wide range of people of different sexes, ages and social backgrounds who may fall victim to abuse during their childhood and youth. The cast includes Goya-winner Belen Rueda (The Sea Inside) as Silvia’s in-denial mother.
Attending talent:Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1998 (Secrets of the Heart) and a two-time Goya award winning screenwriter, Montxo Armendáriz is scheduled to attend and discuss the film.
Cousinhood (Primos): (9:45 pm) – When Diego (Quim Gutiérrez) is jilted at the altar, his cousins, playboy Julián and depressed, eye patch-wearing Miguel, convince him to join them on a trip to northern coastal Spain, where they think Diego can re-ignite the spark with ex-girlfriend Martina (Inma Cuesta). Upon arrival at Martina’s pueblo, Diego finds his old flame now to be a single mother, complicating the men’s plans for a swift, simple reunion. Director Daniel Sanchez Arévalo reunites with Gutiérrez and actor Antonio de la Torre (all three of them won Goyas for Dark Blue Almost Black) and Raul Arévalo, whom he directed to a Goya-winning performance in Fat People.
Saturday, October 22th, 2011
Forever Young (Héroes): (4:00 pm) Audience Award Winner at the 2011 Malaga Film Festival, this heart-warming drama, co-written and directed by Pau Freixas, chronicles the journey of a young publicist named Sala (Àlex Brendemühl) after he picks up a female hitchhiker, Cristina (Eva Santolaria) and, is reminded of the long-lost days of his childhood. A cascade of emotional memories from the best summer of his life is revisited, as the story weaves between two different historical time periods — present day and the ‘80s — and Sala’s world is turned upside down from his renewed happiness, causing him to question his present life. Reminiscent of a Spanish version of the classic Stand By Me, the adult characters are an essential part of the story, though the true protagonists of the film are five kids, as they bring the youthful adventures to life. The cast also includes Goya-winning actress Emma Suarez (The Dog in the Manger).
Blackthorn (Sin destino): (6:45 pm)Stepping into the iconic boots previously worn by Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in the 1969 western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff) plays Cassidy in this revisionist story, and survives the epic standoff with the Bolivian military in 1908. Tired of his long exile from the US and hoping to see his family again before he dies, Cassidy (now calling himself “Blackthorn”) sets out on the long journey home until an unexpected encounter with an ambitious young criminal (Eduardo Noriega) derails his plans and thrusts him into one last adventure, the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since his glory days with the Sundance Kid. The cast also includes Stephen Rea (The Crying Game) and Peruvian actress Magaly Suarez (The Milk of Sorrow, Amador).
Attending Talent: Four-time Goya Award winning filmmaker Mateo Gil (The Sea Inside, The Method, Agora) is scheduled to attend and discuss the film.
Three Meters Above the Sky (Tres metros sobre el cielo): (9:45 pm) The highest grossing domestic production of 2010 at the Spanish box office, and based on the Italian novel by Federico Moccia, director Fernando González Molina’s Three Meters Above The Sky tells the story of two young people who belong to different worlds. The film chronicles the relationship between an innocent upper-middle class girl named Babi (María Valverde) and a rebellious-impulsive boy named Hache (Mario Casas). Like a contemporary Romeo and Juliet, both must fight against the harsh realities and injustices of life in order to preserve their bond, and, against all odds, sustain a love born outside of convention. An inspiring and romantic comedy, the film is a portrait of the fleeting and ephemeral nature of adolescence.
Attending talent: Goya Award nominee for Best New Actor (El juego del ahorcado), Alvaro Cervantes is scheduled to attend and discuss the film.
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011
Five Square Meters (Cinco metros cuadrados): (7:30 pm) (U.S. Premiere) This revenge thriller about the effects of corruption in the Spanish construction industry details the burst of the real estate bubble which left many in dire straits worldwide. The crash takes its toll on Alex (Fernanando Tejero) and his fiancé, compelling him to use unorthodox means to get back at the unscrupulous developer who ripped him off. Winner of Best Film and Best Actor at the 14th Malaga Spanish Film Festival.
Attending Talent: Goya-winning actor Fernando Tejero (Soccer Days) is scheduled to attend and discuss the film.
Complete details on the program can be found at miami.recentcinemafromspain.
Note: Information regarding events and availability of talent for press interviews will be released in the coming weeks.
EGEDA (Spanish acronym for the “Audiovisual Producers’ Rights Management Association”) is a non-profit association and collecting society which manages the rights of the producers, collecting on their behalf the royalties than cannot be collected on an individual basis. In addition, EGEDA provides services to producers and the audiovisual industry as a whole. The Association represents and defends the interests of Spanish and Latin American audiovisual producers and is very active in the field of intellectual property rights management. EGEDA serve as a major link between the Spanish film industry and the American and Latino film industries.
Recent Cinema from Spain is the result of an initiative by EGEDA, with the purpose of promoting Spanish films in the United States and encouraging their circulation to the public at-large and the audiovisual industry.
The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), celebrating its 29th edition on March 2-11, 2012, is considered the preeminent Ibero-American film festival in the U.S. The annual Festival, produced and presented by Miami Dade College, attracts more than 70,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. It is the only major festival housed within a college or university. In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 East Coast, U.S. and World Premieres. MIFF programs such as Miami Encuentros, and a special focus on Ibero-American cinema have made the Miami International Film Festival a natural gateway for the discovery of Ibero-American talent. Additionally, the Festival offers unparalleled educational opportunities to filmmakers and the community at large. For more, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-MIFF (3456).
Miami Dade College has a long and rich history of involvement in the cultural arts, providing South Florida with a vast array of artistic and literary offerings including The Miami Book Fair International, the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, the MDC Live performance series, The MDC Tower Theater Cinema Series, nine visual arts galleries including The Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College and the School of Entertainment and Design Technology, in addition to the renowned Miami International Film Festival. MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the country and is nationally recognized for many of its academic and cultural programs. With an enrollment of more than 174,000 students, MDC is the nation’s top producer of degrees. The college’s eight campuses and outreach centers offer nearly 300 distinct degree programs including several baccalaureate degrees. It has admitted nearly 2 million students since it opened its doors in 1960. More at mdc.edu.
Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
The Olympia Theater opened in 1926 in downtown Miami as a silent movie palace and amazed the public with its stunning Moorish architecture, perfect acoustics and simulated night sky, complete with wafting clouds and twinkling stars. The two-story, 1,567-seat theater also achieved fame as the first air- conditioned building in the South. Thanks to extensive restorations in the 1970s, overseen in part by famed architect Morris Lapidus, the theater was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Throughout its history, the Olympia—now better known as the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts—has been host to the world’s most exciting performers in the arts and entertainment community. Since 1983, the theater has been the premier theatrical venue for the Miami International Film Festival. gusmancenter.org.