MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The five selected films for the Audience Choice Award at the PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival will have a virtual screening on Oct. 10 at 6 pm, through the Festival’s platform www.pelikula.es.
PELICULA Spanish Film Festival is ongoing until Oct. 10. The Audience Choice is an award given to the film that viewers have voted as the best of the festival, a tradition that began in 2004. Spectators of this year’s online festival can rate films after viewing them. The highest-rated wins will be screened again on Oct. 10.
The five selected films are:
Fuera de Carta (2008) (Chef’s Special)
This film explores the complex world of a gay, married man. Directed by Nacho G. Velilla, it stars Spanish actor Javier Camara as a chef who gets tangled in a love triangle with a maitre d’ and a handsome Argentinian soccer player.
Screening dates:
Friday, Oct. 8, 6 p.m. onwards
Saturday, Oct. 9, whole day
Sunday, Oct.10, Until 6 p.m.
El secreto de Sus Ojos (2009) (The Secret in their Eyes)
An Argentinian crime drama co-written, edited, and produced by Juan José Campanella, based on the novel La Pregunta de Sus Ojos (The Question in Their Eyes). Set in the ‘70s, it tells the story of a judiciary employee and his boss, played by Ricardo Darín and Soledad Villamil, respectively, as they investigate a rape and murder case. It won the best foreign-language film at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2009.
Screening dates:
Saturday, Oct.9, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 10, whole day
Monday, Oct.11, Until 4 p.m.
Tambien La Lluvia (2010) (Even the Rain)
Directed by Icíar Bollaín, the film is about a Mexican director (Gael García Bernal) and Spanish executive producer (Luis Tosar) who travel to Bolivia and get tangled in the Cochamba Water War while shooting a film about Spanish conquest of the New World.
Screening dates:
Saturday, Oct.9, 6 p.m.
Sunday, Oct.10, whole day
Monday, Oct.11, Until 6 p.m.
Un Cuento Chino (2011) (Chinese Take-Away)
The highest-grossing film in Argentina in 2011, the comedy directed by Sebatian Borensztein is about Roberto (Ricardo Darin) a hardware shop owner and collector of strange stories, which he clips from newspapers, whose life turns upside down when a Chinese man comes to life from the backdoor of a taxi.
Screening dates:
Sunday, Oct.10, 4 p.m.
Monday, Oct.11, whole day
Tuesday, Oct.12, until 4 p.m.
Campeones (2018) (Champions)
A 2018 Spanish dramedy directed by Javier Fesser tells the story of Marcos, a coach of a basketball team who, after a brawl, was forced to complete 90 days of social work, training a team of people with intellectual disabilities.
Screening dates:
Saturday, Oct.2, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct.3, whole day
Monday, Oct.4, until 4 p.m.
Presented by the Instituto Cervantes in Manila and Sydney and the Spanish Embassies in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia, the PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival will stream four short films and 16 contemporary Spanish and Latin American feature films. All films will be available for free streaming with English subtitles at www.pelikula.es within 48 hours from their scheduled reléase.
