All programs are free and open to audiences. RSVP is mandatory due to limited seating.
Please select an upcoming program below and click on the RSVP button to view information about the film and reserve your spot. You will receive an automatic email confirmation after registering on the individual film page.
Programs are hosted at the Manarat Al Saadiyat Auditorium.
(Programs dates and times are subject to change.)
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
El verdugo (Original Title)
Directed by Luis García Berlanga
Spain | 1963 | 92 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ G ]
Synopsis: This masterpiece of black humor, beloved in Spain but too little seen elsewhere, threads a scathing critique of Franco-era values through a macabre farce about an undertaker who marries an executioner’s daughter and reluctantly takes over her father’s job so the family can keep their government-allotted apartment. As caustic today as it was in 1963, this early collaboration between Luis García Berlanga and his longtime screenwriter Rafael Azcona is an unerring depiction of what Berlanga called “the invisible traps that society sets up for us.” A furiously funny personal attack on capital punishment, The Executioner evaded the state censors who sought to suppress it, and today is regarded as one of the greatest Spanish films of all time.
Chico y Rita (Original Title)
Directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando
Spain | 2010 | 94 minutes
In Spanish, English, French | English Subtitles | [ 18+ ]
Synopsis: Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak. Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, and features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
El ángel exterminador (Original Title)
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Spain, Mexico | 1962 | 93 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ G ]
Synopsis: A group of high-society friends are invited to a mansion for dinner and find themselves inexplicably unable to leave, in Luis Buñuel’s daring masterpiece The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador). Made just one year after the director’s international sensation Viridiana, this film, full of eerie comic absurdity, continues Buñuel’s wicked takedown of the rituals and dependencies of the frivolous upper classes.
Directed by Carlos Saura
Spain | 2010 | 100 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ G ]
Synopsis: Directed by legendary Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, Flamenco, Flamenco is an evolutionary musical journey through the light, song and dance of a dynamic and alive art form. Beautifully photographed by famed Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, and showcasing a powerful new Flamenco through dazzling musical and dance performances by emerging talents, and the greatest living Flamenco masters, this unique musical odyssey reaches beyond the borders of Flamenco and Spanish culture toward a universal artistic expression.
La novia (Original Title)
Directed by Paula Ortiz
Spain | 2015 | 93 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ PG-13 ]
Synopsis: Based on 'Bodas de sangre' by Federico García Lorca, The Bride tells the story of a love triangle between two men and a woman. Two lovers carried away by their passion defying all moral and social rules even challenging their own judgment. The same day of her wedding, the bride and her lover escape on horseback to live their love. Their disobedience will have devastating consequences.
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Muerte de un ciclista (Original Title)
Directed by Juan Antonio Bardem
Spain | 1955 | 87 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ G ]
Synopsis: Upper-class geometry professor Juan and his wealthy, married mistress, Maria José, driving back from a late-night rendezvous, accidentally hit a cyclist, and run. The resulting, exquisitely shot tale of guilt, infidelity, and blackmail reveals the wide gap between the rich and the poor in Spain, and surveys the corrupt ethics of a society seduced by decadence. Juan Antonio Bardem's charged melodrama Death of a Cyclist (Muerte de un ciclista) was a direct attack on 1950s Spanish society under Franco’s rule. Though it was affected by the dictates of censorship, its sting could never be dulled.
El secreto de sus ojos (Original Title)
Directed by Juan José Campanella
Argentina, Spain | 2009 | 129 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ 18+ ]
Synopsis: With The Secret in their Eyes, Argentinean writer—director—editor Juan Jose Campanella has created a multi—layered and poignant thriller interweaving the personal lives of a state prosecution investigator and a judge, with a manhunt spanning twenty—five years. Recently retired criminal court investigator Benjamin (Ricardo Darin), decides to write a novel based on a twenty—five year old unresolved rape and murder case, which still haunts him. Sharing his plans with Irene (Soledad Villamil), the beautiful judge and former colleague he has secretly been in love with for years, Benjamin’s initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks, as he sets out to identify the murderer. But Benjamin’s search for the truth will put him at the center of a judicial nightmare, as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present, testing the limits of a man seeking justice and personal fulfillment at last.
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Spain | 1961 | 90 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ PG-13 ]
Synopsis: Banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican, Luis Buñuel’s irreverent vision of life as a beggar’s banquet is regarded by many as his masterpiece. In it, novice nun Viridiana does her utmost to maintain her Catholic principles, but her lecherous uncle and a motley assemblage of paupers force her to confront the limits of her idealism. Winner of the Palme d’or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, Viridiana is as audacious today as ever.
También la lluvia (Original Title)
Directed by Icíar Bollaín
Spain | 2010 | 104 minutes
In Spanish | English Subtitles | [ 18+ ]
Synopsis: Idealistic filmmaker Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) arrive in Bolivia to make a revisionist film about Christopher Columbus’ conquest of the Americas. But as filming commences, the local citizens begin to riot in protest against a multi-national corporation that is taking control of their water supply. With the film shoot in jeopardy, both men find their convictions shaken. Inspired by the real-life water wars in Bolivia in the year 2000, Even the Rain explores the lasting effects of Spanish imperialism, still resonating some 500 years later in the continued struggle of indigenous people against oppression and exploitation.
