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Spanish film festival Pelicula, on its 20th year, to be held online anew

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Leah C. Salterio

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="movie list" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/life/10/01/movie-list-(1).jpg"/></figure></div>MANILA -- Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chairperson and CEO Liza Diño proposed to the Instituto Cervantes de Manila a possible pairing of Oscar-winning Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and award-winning Filipino actor John Arcilla.Cruz’s name was interestingly attached to Arcilla’s after they recently won Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively, at the 78th Venice Film Festival in Italy.Cruz and Arcilla bagged the prestigious Volpi Cup – she for Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” while he for Erik Matti’s “On the Job: The Missing 8.”Cruz’s name was mentioned because of the Spanish film festival “Pelicula,” now on its 20th year in the Philippines. For the second year in a row, the film festival is presented online.The Philippine edition was even given a special iteration in its title, presenting “Pelikula” (note the spelling with a ‘k”) for Filipinos. This time, however, the festival extends to Thailand, Australia and for the first time, Malaysia.The festival was created for the Philippines 20 years ago. Annually, the public has enjoyed watching Spanish films, with English subtitles in theaters. For its 20th edition online, “Pelicula” will stream 16 feature films and four short films for free.“This online edition has given us the opportunity to broaden the scope of the festival,” Instituto Cervantes executive director Javier Galvan told ABS-CBN News. “Our mission is to promote Spanish language and culture all over the world.”Galvan referred to Diño as “a very important partner” who works closely with Instituto Cervantes with everything related to movies. “It’s a very fruitful cooperation throughout the years that will continue on and on,” Galvan said.As head of the national film agency of the country, Diño considers it an “honor” to be the proud partner of “Pelicula, Pelikula” every year. “It’s always been an honor for us to take part in the activities that the festival creates to bring together this link between the Philippines and Spain,” Diño said.“Now that we are going towards globalization, we are seeing a new generation of filmmakers who are very inspired to collaborate not just with their local partners, but also their international partners, as well.“I hope that we can capitalize on this opportunity to be more intentional on bringing together Spanish producers and Filipino producers, even Thai producers, to have this multilateral cooperation in creating films that will travel and will be seen not just in our respective countries, but all over the world.”Diño also brought up a possible co-production venture between Spain and the Philippines for a movie in the near future, with Volpi Cup winners, Cruz and Arcilla.“Maybe that’s something that we can aspire and create, since Penelope Cruz and John Arcilla are winners at the Venice film fest,” Diño said.Meanwhile, Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Jorge Moragas said that &quot;Pelicula: has grown year after year &quot;and has become a reference point as the most prominent festival of Spanish films in Southeast Asia.”“Due to the unprecedented circumstances brought by the pandemic and the great warm welcome of last year’s online edition of ‘Pelicula,’ we come back in the same format.“We will continue to have a regional dimension as our embassies in Australia, Malaysia and Thailand will participate in a joint effort with us.”To celebrate the 20th edition of “Pelicula,” the festival will present 11 films in the official section, four short films and five other films in the audience award selection category, making a total of 20 films. Each film will be available for online viewing for 24 hours.“October is a special month for all of us, Spaniards, as we celebrate our National Day on October 12,” Moragas explained. “We will celebrate it with different online events and ‘Pelicula’ is one of them.“In these trying times and in our fight against COVID, we believe that culture and cinema are important tools against the isolation and sometimes, the alienation, that the pandemic has brought to many of us.“Films and visual art are indeed a good refuge in these trying times and ‘Pelicula’ is a perfect festival to share that kind of content and be a shelter and refuge in these trying times.”Opening the festival on October 1 is “El Cover” (2021), a musical comedy that marks the directorial debut of actor Secun de la Rosa. The lineup also includes Gracia Querejeta’s “Invisibles” (2020), Guillermo Rojas’ “Una Vez Mas” (2019), Ruiz Barrachina’s “Tristesse” (2020);Judith Colell’s “15 Horas” (2020), David Perez Sanudo’s “Ane” (2020) and the latest film of David Trueba, “A Este Lado del Mundo” (2020), a bitter yet intelligent depiction of immigration.There are documentaries like Samuel Alarcon “Oscuro y Lucientes” (2018) and “Antonio Machado” (2018), and Laura Hojman’s “Los Dias Azules” (2020).“Pelicula” will also stream Latin-American films such as the Mexican documentary, Andrea Martinez Crowther’s “Observar Las Aves” (2019); and a feature film, “Lina de Lima” (2019), directed by Maria Paz Gonzalez and co-produced by Chile, Argentina and Peru.Classical movies are not part of the festival, although they are shown all throughout the year. Only films produced the last two to three years will be shown as scheduled for 48 hours, according to Galvan. From the 11 new films that will be streamed, an “Audience Choice” will be awarded, so viewers online are enjoined to vote for their favorite film to be this year’s winner. The film with the highest rating will receive this year’s award.Young filmmaker Guillermo Rojas, who directed “Una Vez Mas,” is very excited to have his film shown for the first time in Southeast Asia. “It’s a great honor to be part of ‘Pelicula’ and I’m very, very excited,” Rojas said from Seville, Spain.“Presenting our films in a festival like ‘Pelicula’ is the opportunity to see how we live in Spain and how we see reality,” Rojas granted. “My film is about young people who need to go abroad looking for a job. It’s very important to know this kind of reality.”Rojas is also the producer of the documentaries “Antonio Machado” and “Los Dias Azules.”

For its 20th edition online, “Pelicula” will stream 16 feature films and four short films for free.