After a 10-year hiatus, the ¡Viva! Tour of UK cinemas is back, with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery. 

The UK’s largest and most popular celebration of Spanish and Latin American culture which celebrates 25 years of cross-border creativity, collaborations and partnerships in 2019 will be bringing the best new cinema from Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America to cinemas nationwide.

Presented by HOME Manchester and reflecting HOME’s 2019 theme Celebrating Women in Global Cinema, the touring films will all foreground female creative talent in the roles of director, writer, producer or star. 

¡Viva!’s film programme is curated by Rachel Hayward, HOME’s Head of Film, Jessie Gibbs, ¡Viva! Festival Coordinator, and Andy Willis, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford and HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film.

Rachel Hayward comments: “At a time in history when the issue of borders is predominant, we welcome our 25th annual celebration of cross-border creativity and partnerships. For a quarter of a century, we have been honoured to bring the best new film and creative work from Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America to UK audiences, and we look forward to continuing to do so over the next 25 years! ¡Disfrutad el festival!”

Films screening at Exeter Phoenix are:

Memorias de un hombre en pijama (Memories of a Man in Pyjamas) 

Sun 28 Apr, 16:00

Dir Carlos Fernández de Vigo / Spain 2018 / 74 mins
/ Spanish wEngST 

Raúl Arévalo, María Castro, Manuel Manquiña, Santi Balmes 

After the success of Arrugas (2011), we’re thrilled to present a second film from comic strip artist Paco Roca, an autobiographical story adapted for the big screen in partnership with Diana López and Ángel de la Cruz. The classic 2D animation is book-ended by live-action scenes with Raúl Arévalo, a familiar face for ¡Viva! fans. Paco, a 40-something bachelor from Barcelona, finally sees his childhood dream come true: a job working from home in his pyjamas. Just when he's reached the zenith of personal happiness, however, he falls in love with a woman who’s not convinced his main objective in life should be to remain at home in his pyjamas. A delightful ‘coming-of-age’ comedy for big kids who never want to grow up. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcMEEu9pX3U 

Alanis (18) 

Thu 2 May, 20:00

Dir Anahí Berneri / Argentina 2017 / 82 mins
/ Spanish wEngST 

Sofía Gala, Dana Basso, Silvina Sabater, Carlos Antonio Vuletich 

This fifth film from writer/director Berneri is a superbly well-told tale of a few days in the life of a young mother working as a prostitute in Buenos Aires. Winner of Best Director and Best Actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the film portrays a proud young woman doing her best for her infant son, with the beautifully naturalistic performance enhanced by the real-life mother-son relationship. Working conditions sometimes force Alanis into difficult and dangerous scenarios, but she is cast neither as a victim nor a weak woman. The deliberate lack of judgement of the oldest profession is refreshing – with interesting reflections of the female archetypes of virgin, mother and whore – set in a country where prostitution is legal but brothels are not. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6NmT2671gc 

Petra

Tue 14 May, 19:30

Dir Jaime Rosales/ES 2018/105 mins/Spanish & Catalan wEngST

Bárbara Lennie, Alex Brendemühl, Joan Botey, Marisa Paredes

Auteur filmmaker Rosales brings the atmosphere of Greek tragedy to contemporary Spain in this portrait of a broken family suffering the consequences of secrets, lies and violence. Petra, a fatherless young woman, embarks on a search that leads her to Jaume, a famous artist and a powerful, ruthless man (remarkably portrayed by a non-professional actor). Petra’s story entwines with the lives of Jaume, his wife and their son, and step-by-step their fates are sealed. The non-chronological order reflects their predestined outcomes, with chapters that rearrange the plot to give you flashes of foresight and hindsight. Shot on location near Madrid and Girona, the camera gracefully glides across the beautiful rural scenery in this darkly witty melodrama, which should tease, surprise and engage all the way to the end!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbeFN-MPvc 

Quién te cantará

Wed 22 May, 19:00

Dir Carlos Vermut/ES FR 2018/124 mins 


Eva Llorach, Najwa Nimri, Carme Elías, Natalia de Molina

Dive down the rabbit hole into an enigmatic hall of mirrors featuring a beloved singer and her talented fan; an amnesiac superstar and her devoted assistant; a doting mother and her bullying daughter… When an ‘accident’ leaves fame-weary Lila with acute memory loss, super-fan Violeta’s remarkable karaoke performance suggests an unusual solution – Violeta can teach Lila to be Lila again. Drawing comparisons with Hitchcock, Bergman and Almodóvar, and voted Best Film by the critics at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, madrileño director Vermut continues to create stylish and exciting cinema packed with complex female leads. With great music, witty dialogue, dark emotions and high drama, this is a hypnotic film to disturb and delight as the sophisticated plot unfurls.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=132&v=Rz9ctg_apsk

El Mundo Sigue (Life Goes On)

Thu 13 Jun, 19:00

Dir Fernán Gómez / ES 1963 / 120 mins

Lina Canalejas, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Gemma Cuervo 
Two sisters, with an extreme case of sibling rivalry, each try to find success, love and status in 1960s Madrid. This melodrama is a powerful critique of Spain’s political system at the time of its release, the Franco dictatorship and its portrayal of moral misery explores female suffering and voice with a rarely seen portrait of life in Madrid. Exploring abortion, prostitution, gambling, envy, hate, resentment, deceit, and above all the terrible plight of women in such a society it is an early example of Spanish feminist cinema and a true forgotten masterpiece.

Event: INTRODUCTION BY SALLY FAULKNER AND ROUND TABLE FOLLOWING SCREENING WITH MA STUDENTS / SON OF ORIGINAL PRODUCER JUAN ESTELRICH (TBC).

The ¡Viva! Tour is supported by the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery.

Watch the Tour trailer here: https://youtu.be/jdLOOuVnkv8

To book tickets please visit: www.exeterphoenix.org.uk
#Viva2019