MANILA – Vivir es facil con los ojos cerrados (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed), a film by acclaimed Spanish director David Trueba opens the 2014 edition of PELÍCULA-PELIKULA, the annual Spanish Film Festival, which opens on October 10 at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas.
The film takes its title from the song Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles–which turns out to be the protagonist Antonio’s favorite band. In the film, Antonio makes his way to Almeria in pursuit of John Lennon, who is there for a film shoot. On the way picks up a teenage boy and young woman, and the odd trio continue the journey together. The film has already won six awards, including Best Film and Best Director, at the recent Goya Awards. It has also been selected as Spain’s entry in the Foreign Language film category at the 2015 Academy Awards.
Trueba himself will be presenting the film at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas on October 10, an audiences may ask questions at an open forum after the screening.
Since its conception in 2002 by Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish Film Festival has been an annual attraction at the Ayala Cinemas, bringing the best of Spanish and Latin American cinema to the local audience of Manila.
PELÍCULA-PELIKULA is a combination of the Spanish word “película” which means film and its Tagalog derivation “pelikula”, echoing the cultural ties shared by Spain and the Philippines. Putting the two together underlines the unique characteristics of this 2-week event as the biggest Spanish film festival in Asia.
This year’s PELÍCULA-PELIKULA will commence with an exhibit at the Greenbelt 5 Fashion Walk. Set to open on October 10, at 5:30 p.m. Putting emphasis on the Festival’s acclaimed films, the exhibit will showcase a mirror display that will reflect various clips from the films. Shoppers will be encouraged to take a peek inside red boxes on tripods dispersed in the venue and view vignettes of the Spanish films.
19 full-length films and five short films are set to be screened this year, from various genres including romance, comedy, documentary, animation, suspense, and drama.
Thanks to the collaboration of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), a selection of films shown in the Festival will travel to other cities in the Philippines: Baguio, Ilo-ilo, Zamboanga and Davao.
Audience Choice Award
Also not to be missed in every edition of PELÍCULA is the “Audience Choice” Award. During the 11-day festival, the audience will be given stubs in which they can rate the movies they have seen. For every five movies, members of the audience qualify to join the raffle in which they get a chance to win a round-trip ticket to Spain, courtesy of Qatar Airways.
Presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Greenbelt and Ayala Cinemas, PELÍCULA is made possible by Emperador Distillers, Vibal Foundation, Qatar Airways and San Miguel Corporation, in collaboration with the Embassy of Mexico, Instituto Etxepare, Ayala Museum, Alba’s Restaurante Español, New World Hotel and Espa-Fil.
For the schedule, line-up of films and further information on the Festival visit the official website of Instituto Cervantes (www.manila.cervantes.es) or log on to its Facebook page: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila
