¡VIVA! Spanish Film Festival
Horas de luz (Hours of Light)
Manuel Matji | Spain | 2004 | 98 mins
Based on actual events, this is the story of brutal killer and violent prisoner Juan José Garfia (San Juan).
Roma
Alfonso Aristarain | Spain/Argentina | 2004 | 155 mins
Aristarain's 'most achieved work to date' (Variety), Roma is a compassionate look back at the Argentinean director's own spiritual and political education.
Memoria del saqueo (A Social Genocide)
Fernando E Solanas | Argentina | 2004 | 135 mins
Synopsis
Inconscientes (Unconscious)
Joaquin Oristrell | Spain | 2004 | 108 mins
1913 Barcelona. When very modern, intelligent, independent (and heavily pregnant) Alma (Watling) discovers her psychiatrist husband has disappeared she, of course, must investigate.
Machuca
Andrés Wood Chi | Spain/France/UK | 2004 | 135 mins
Santiago 1973: Two 11-year-old boys from different sides of the tracks share the same classroom, but different perspectives on the impending coup against Allende.
Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena (Things That Make Life Worth Living)
Manuel Gómez Pereira | Spain | 2004 | 86 mins
2003 ¡Viva! guest Fernández won a Goya nomination for his role in this autumnal romantic comedy, playing opposite popular star Belen (also Goya-nominated).
Nicotina
Hugo Rodriguez | Mexico | 2003 | 93 mins
This highly stylised Tarantino-esque crime caper stars Diego Luna and was a huge hit at the Mexican box office.
Familia Rodante (Rolling Family)
Pablo Trapero | Argentina | 2004 | 143 mins
From the acclaimed director of Mundo Grau and
El Bonaerense, this comic family drama/road movie heads off in a new direction yet follows the road map of New Argentine Cinema.
Whisky
Pablo Stoll & Juan Pablo Rebella | 2004 | Uruguay/ Argentina/Spain/Germany | 94 mins
Life at the sock factory is a monotonous routine for owner Jacobo Koller, who shares a respectful - if distant - relationship with his employees, speaking for the most part only with his loyal assistant, Marta. This lackluster status quo is disturbed when Jacobo learns his younger brother Herman who feels guilty about missing their mother's funeral the year before, is arriving form Brazil for her gravestone-setting ceremony.
Incautos (Suckers!)
Miguel Bardem | Spain | 2004 | 110 mins
There's one born every day and Ernesto (Alterio) has spent his life learning how to cheat them, thanks to elderly mentor El Manco (Alexandre).
Rejas en la memoria
(Bars in the Memory)
Manuel Palacios | Spain | 2004 | 80 mins
During Transition, it was agreed that the wounds of the past wouldn't be reopened. But recently this attitude has changed. Using interviews and archive footage, this documentary exposes the existence of post-Civil War concentration camps and Republican slave labourers.
Seres queridos (Only Human)
Dominic Harari, Teresa Pelegri | Spain/Argentina/UK | 2004 | 90 mins
Leni arrives home to introduce her fiancé Rafi (Toledo) to her Jewish family for the first time. Everything goes wonderfully until they reveal that Rafi is Palestinian.
Bombón – el perro (Bombón – the Dog)
Carlos Sorín | Argentina/Spain | 2004 | 97 mins
The director of Historias Minimas returns with another modest story set against the vast expanses of Patagonia.
Madrid 11M:Todos ibamos en ese tren (Madrid M11: We Were All On That Train)
Various | Spain | 2004 | 110 mins
Comprised of 24 shorts, this compendium presents a plurality of views on Madrid terrorist attacks of 11 March 2004.
De la Calle (Streeters)
Gerardo Tort | Mexico | 2001 | 90 mins
Los Olvidados meets Amores Perros in this kinetic portrait of the dark life of children who have nothing, Mexico City's street kids.
Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamas acabaras de ser amor (A thousand Clouds of Peace Encircle the Sky, Love; Your Being Love will Never End)
Julián Hernández | Mexico | 2003 | 80 mins
In this poetic, B&W meditation, gay teen Gerardo roams the streets of Mexico City over five days in search of someone able to reveal the secret hidden between the lines of the goodbye letter left behind by Bruno, a furtive lover who has transformed his existence after only a couple of encounters.