THE 17th Pelicula/Pelikula Spanish Film Festival will bring the best of Spanish and Latin American cinema to Greenbelt 3, UP Diliman, and Instituto Cervantes Intramuros from Oct. 4 to 20.
Pelicula/Pelikula has been an annual attraction at Greenbelt since it was first held by the Instituto Cervantes in 2002. Following that tradition, the first leg of the festival will be held at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas from Oct. 4 to 14, showing the best of contemporary Spanish cinema to the audiences of Makati and the rest of Metro Manila.
The event, presented by Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain-AECID, TurEspaña, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, will screen more than 20 films.
The selected films range from romance (Los Amores Cobardes) and comedy (Campeones, La Llamada, Mi Querida Cofradía) to documentary (Dancing Beethoven), adventure (Oro), children’s animation (Atrapa la Bandera), adult animation (Memorias de un Hombre en Pijama), and drama (La Novia).
Aside from these Spanish films of different genres, Pelicula/Pelikula 2018 will also highlight Latin American cinema with films from Argentina (The Summit) and Cuba (Últimos Días en La Habana).
Pelicula/Pelikula, in collaboration with Cut Print Productions, will also feature Encuentros en el Cine: Shorts from the Philippines and Spain on Oct. 12. The program will screen 10 recent Spanish short films and will also premiere two Filipino shorts — The Gathering by Arvin “Kadiboy” Belarmino and Our Love Story by actor and first-time director Xian Lim.
In addition, the film festival will also pay tribute to the Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) in the year of his birth centennial. In collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden and the UP Film Center, Pelicula/Pelikula will present the special section “Bergman in Spain,” showing two of Bergman’s films (Wild Strawberries and Persona), plus two Spanish films influenced by the Swedish maestro’s notion of cinema — Carlos Saura’s Cría Cuervos and Pedro Almodóvar’s Tacones Lejanos (High Heels).
Last but not the least, film buffs should not miss the Audience Choice Award that happens in every edition of Pelicula/Pelikula. During the festival, viewers will be given stubs with which they can rate the movies they have seen.
For every five movies they see and rate, members of the audience will qualify to join a raffle where they will get a chance to win a round-trip ticket to Spain. The winning entry will again be screened on Oct. 14, 7 p.m., at Greenbelt 3 and at Instituto Cervantes Intramuros on Oct. 20.
For the schedule and more information on the festival, visit the Instituto Cervantes Facebook page or check out its website.

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