PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival Returns to In-Person Screenings

This article is available in Spanish.

MANILA, Philippines — The 21^st PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival will resume in-person screenings from Oct. 5–16. This after two years of virtual film screenings. Said festival will present about twenty films in Metro Manila: Shangri-La Plaza, Cine Adarna at UP Diliman, and the Intramuros branch of the Instituto Cervantes.

PELÍCULA will kick off in the Philippines Oct. 5 with the comedy “El buen patron” (Fernando León de Aranoa, 2021); the film stars Javier Bardem. “El test” (Dani de la Orden, 2022) and “Con quién viajas” (Martín Cuervo, 2021) are two other comedies on the roster. The official entries also include dramas like “Maixabel” (Icíar Bollaín, 2021) and “El olvido que seremos” (Fernando Trueba, 2020); documentaries like “A las mujeres de España. María Lejárraga” (Laura Hojman, 2022); and thrillers like “La hija” (Manuel Martín Cuenca, 2021).

This year’s edition of the festival will also feature films from Latin America, including the Colombian documentary “Jinetes del Paraíso” (Talia Osorio Cardona, 2020), the Panamanian comedy “Algo azul” (Mariel García Spooner, 2021), and the Spanish-Argentinean comedy “Competencia oficial,” which was produced by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn and stars Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez.

A variety of classic Spanish movies will also be shown to mark the festival’s 21^st year. These movies include “Esa pareja feliz” (Juan Antonio Bardem & Luis García Berlanga, 1951), “Muerte de un ciclista” (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1953), “Mamá cumple cien años” (Carlos Saura, 1979), and “El sur” (Víctor Erice, 1983).

PELíCULA has been a yearly event in Philippine theaters since it was founded by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in 2002. After the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down movie theaters around the world and drove PELíCULA viewers online, the festival is back on the big screen. Admission is free, albeit on a first-come, first-served basis. All of the films have English subtitles and are in Spanish (or the native language).

The festival will also hold live online screenings in Australia and Malaysia.

For updates on the festival, visit Instituto Cervantes de Manila’s Facebook page.