23rd edition of PELÍCULA>PELIKULA to present best of Spanish cinema, documentaries, theatre

PELÍCULA>PELIKULA, easily one of the most anticipated film festivals in the Philippines returns for its 23rd edition and it will feature 25 of the most impressive and critically-acclaimed films that highlight the best of Spanish cinema and so much more.

Organized by Instituto Cervantes, it will once again be held at the Edsa Shangri-La Plaza from October 5 to 13, 2024 with "Robot Dreams", a 2023 multi-awarded animation film by Spanish director Pablo Berger kicking off the festival.

Still from "Robot Dreams"

Other entries to the Official Selection of the Festival include Víctor Erice’s latest work Cerrar los ojos (2023), La estrella azul, directed by Javier Macipe in 2023, and comedies like Casa en llamas (Dani de la Orden, 2024) or Loli Tormenta (2023), that will be presented by the scripwriter of the movie Mario Torrecillas.

The official entries also include documentaries such as Rioja, the Land of Thousand Wines (2023), Hispanoamérica, canto de vida y esperanza (2024), both films by José Luis López Linares, and Benito Pérez Buñuel (2022), an interesting approach to the influence of Pérez Galdós’ novels on Luis Buñuel films. This documentary will be presented by its director Luis Roca on October 8.

Still from "Las hijas"

The Official Selection of PELÍCULA will also feature Latin American films such as the Argentinean comedy Puan (María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, 2023), the Brazilian Pacarrete (Allan Deberton, 2019), and the Panamenian Las hijas (Kattia Zúñiga, 2023). 

Just like in the previous editions, viewers may vote for their favorite films in the Audience Choice Award. Established in 2004, the Award is given to the movie that the viewers have voted as the best of the Festival. Since its establishment in 2004, it has been a very popular tradition in the Festival. In its 23rd edition, spectators can rate the films right after having viewed them. The film with the highest ratings will receive this year’s Audience Choice Award and will be screened again during the closing of PELICULA 2024, on October 13 at Shangri-La Plaza Cinemas.

Special sections

PELICULA’s 23rd edition will be offering some special sections, aside from the Official Selection. Among these sections is Creadores teatrales, a series of four filmed productions coming from the Teatro Real in Madrid. These productions are El amor brujo (in ballet version by the company of Víctor Ullate), Carmen, Fuenteovejuna (both adapted by Antonio Gades) and El público, an opera based on Lorca's text, recreated by Spanish composer Mauricio Sotelo, and featuring great flamenco figures in his cast.

Philippine cinema was born in the Spanish language and almost all film- related terms in Filipino are in Spanish (such as pelikula, sine, direktor, aktor, contrabida, etc.), proof of the strong cultural relations shared between Spain and the Philippines. With this in mind, since its first editions PELíCULA has had activities that served as a space for meeting and interacting with Spanish and Filipino filmmakers. In line with this, PELíCULA will be holding “En corto: Short films from the Philippines, Latin America and Spain”, an activity which will feature recent short films from the three continents.

Other activities

PELÍCULA>PELIKULA is not limited to film screenings. In anticipation of the series of screenings, the Instituto Cervantes is offering during September and October at its Intramuros branch the exhibition What's a festival like you doing in a city like this?!, which brings together a selection of posters, videos and graphic material from the various editions of the Festival, from its inception 23 years ago to the present.

Among the parallel activities, on October 6 the Festival will invite to a free film workshop for children, given by filmmaker Mario Torrecillas, in which the participating children will make a video about how they dream of the city.

PELíCULA 2024 is a project of Instituto Cervantes in Manila, presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, the AECID, Shangri-La Plaza, the Embassy of Argentina in the Philippines, the Embassy of Brazil in the Philippines, the Embassy of Colombia in the Philippines, MTRCB, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, De La Salle University--College of Saint Benilde, the UP Film Institute, the Department of European Languages of the University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, CIIT College of Arts and Technology, Mapúa University, i-Academy, Mint University, Ateneo de Manila University-Modern Languages, Kinoise PH, Sinegang PH. Sponsored by Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Arthaland, Ayala Corporation, Fundador, Terminal Six and Boysen.

All the screenings are FREE entrance. All the movies are in Spanish (or their original language) with English subtitles. For updates on the Festival, please visit the website of Instituto Cervantes de Manila (https://manila.cervantes.es) or the Facebook page of Instituto Cervantes de Manila: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila