Screening nationally from 20 April, the following films are our first sneak peek into the programme which will screen nationally at Palace Cinemas.

From Spain, the selection includes:
Internationally acclaimed director Alejandro Amenábar’s (The Others, The Sea Inside) exposé of the 1936 Spanish coup WHILE AT WAR (Mientras dure la Guerra). Filmed across Spain and Argentina, it reveals the personal side of politics through the eyes of writer Miguel de Unamuno.

Trapped inside a small apartment where hidden secrets slowly rise to the surface, THE PLAN (El plan) sees three friends forced to confront revealing truths in this biting comedy featuring Spanish stars Antonio de la Torre and Raúl Arévalo.

Raúl Arévalo also stars in THE EUROPEANS (Los europeos) opposite Juan Diego Botto in an unforgettable romantic holiday adventure set in the wild world of 1950’s Ibiza, where dreams sometimes carry a sting in the tail.

And the dream of home ownership takes an unexpected turn in ONE CAREFUL OWNER (El inconveniente)
when a young woman must wait for a property’s current elderly owner to die in this offbeat tale of women’s friendship. Starring Almodóvar favourite Kiti Mánver and Juana Acosta.

From Latin America comes:
HEROIC LOSERS (La Odisea de los Giles) the number one Argentinian film of 2019. Heroic Losers is a homespun Ocean’s 11 featuring superstar Ricardo Darín and his son Chino in a comedy heist rich in local colour and unforgettable characters.

And highlighting the Australian-Spanish connection is LATIGO in which Australian comic and filmmaker Simon Palomares visits Cuba to explore the universal joy of laughter in a film heralded as “The Buena Vista Social Club of comedy!”

Benjamin Zeccola, Chief Executive Officer, Palace Cinemas, said: “After sadly having to cancel the Moro Spanish Film Festival last year, we are sure there will be mucho anticipación for a return to celebrations in 2021.”

Kristen Moxey, Marketing and Innovation Manager, Moro Olive Oil, said: “Moro is delighted to return as the presenting partner of the Moro Spanish Film Festival. Sharing our culture, heritage and love of food lies at the very heart of the Moro brand. This is why we are a proud and passionate supporter of this festival. We are excited to showcase a selection of the best new films from Spain. We hope you enjoy!”

The 2021 Moro Spanish Film Festival will take place nationally from 20 April to 16 May in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane and Byron Bay.

COVIDSafe Plan
Cinemagoers can enjoy a COVIDSafe experience at Palace Cinemas with social distancing measures in place, reduced capacities (these differ by state), frequent sanitisation and clean air circulated every ten minutes in theatres.

LISTING DETAILS:
Sydney 20 Apr – 9 May: Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinema.
Canberra 21 Apr – 9 May: Palace Electric Cinema.
Melbourne 22 Apr – 9 May: The Astor Theatre, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Palace Balwyn and Pentridge Cinema.
Adelaide 27 Apr – 16 May: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas.
Perth 28 Apr – 16 May: Palace Raine Square Cinemas, Luna Leederville and Luna on SX.
Brisbane 28 Apr – 16 May: Palace James Street and Palace Barracks.
Byron Bay 29 Apr – 12 May: Palace Byron Bay.

For updates and more information, visit www.spanishfilmfestival.com

It is so up-lifting and life reaffirming, it belongs on anyone’s and everyone’s list of must see films. The cast is made up of professional and non-professional actors and they both do a superlative job.

Javier Gutiérrez is Marco, a basketball coach on a downward spiral. He has separated from his wife, gotten fired from his coaching duties and then thrown in jail for drunk driving. The judge offers him community service in lieu of jail time where he has to coach a team made up of mentally disabled players.

At first he follows the self absorbed path that lead him nowhere before he starts to think of them before himself. The team members are played by all amateur actors and they will absolutely win over your heart. Also of note is the relaxed delivery of the Spanish dialogue in the film. This makes for an easy go to both watch the film and keep up with the subtitles.

Champions is screening in Brisbane:
Palace James Street
Thursday 25, April 1:45 PM
Sunday 28, April 3:00 PM
Friday 3, May 6:15 PM
Saturday 11, May 6:15 PM

Palace Barracks
Friday 26, April 6:15 PM
Tuesday 30, April 8:30 PM
Sunday 5, May 3:30 PM
Tuesday 7, May 8:50 PM
Sunday 12, May 5:50 PM

Presented by Palace, the 2019 Moro Spanish Film Festival’s national program features 32 films from Spain and Latin America, including special presentations and events, innovative documentaries, and a spotlight on female directors.

Click here more information about the program, or head to the official website for more information and to book your tickets!

Moro Spanish Film Festival
Sydney 16 Apr – 8 May: Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona & Palace Central.
Canberra 17 Apr – 8 May: Palace Electric Cinema.
Melbourne 18 Apr – 8 May: The Astor Theatre, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, The Kino and Palace Balwyn.
Adelaide 23 Apr – 15 May: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas & Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas.
Perth 24 Apr – 15 May: Palace Cinema Paradiso.
Brisbane 24 Apr – 15 May: Palace James St and Palace Barracks Cinemas
Hobart 2 May – 8 May: State Cinema.
Byron Bay 10 – 26 May: Palace Byron Bay
www.spanishfilmfestival.com

Cine Latino is delighted to announce that comedian Iván Aristeguieta will be this year’s Festival Ambassador. Iván turned his hand to comedy after a successful career as a brew master and food technologist in his homeland of Venezuela. Since migrating to Australia in 2012, Iván has quickly made a name for himself on the comedy festival circuit here and overseas. In 2017, Iván toured his smash hit show ‘Juithy’ around Australia and his sitcom Lost in Pronunciationaired on ABC TV. Iván will bring his unique brand of Australian-Latin American humour to the Opening Night Events in Melbourne and Sydney.

With 26 features including a spotlight on new films from Argentina, a Cuban retrospective, 3 documentaries and 18 Australian premieres, this year’s Cine Latino Film Festival is a fabulous fiesta of the sights, sounds and stories of Latin America, and opens withwith one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA.

The most personal project to date from Academy Award®-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También), ROMA follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighbourhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s. Cuarón’s first project since the ground-breaking Gravity in 2013. ROMA won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and has been selected to represent Mexico in the upcoming Oscars® and Spanish Goya awards. The Opening Night gala screening of ROMA will be followed by a Latin American feast of food, drinks and entertainment.

Cuarón will bookend the festival, with his 2001 breakout hit Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (AND YOUR MOTHER TOO!) set to screen on Closing Night. Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a perfectly balanced road comedy which launched the careers of stars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. Sensual, surprising and poignant, Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN will screen in a 2K restoration and is an opportunity to rediscover this gem of Mexican cinema.

Gael García Bernal also appears in THE ACCUSED (Ascusada),an involving and ambiguous Best Film nominee at the 2018 Venice Film Festival from auteur director Gonzalo Tobal (Villegas) about a 21-year-old girl (played by Argentinian singer LalíEsposito) who has to face not only a murder trial but also the scrutiny of an entire nation when she becomes the lead suspect for the murder of her best friend.

Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (Westworld, Love, Actually)stars in A TRANSLATOR (Un Traductor), the Sundance-nominated drama based on true events, as a professor ordered to translate for the child victims of Chernobyl, pulling him away from his own young family.

Argentinian cinema is enjoying a resurgence and this year and Cine Latino features 8 new films from Argentina including TEN DAYS WITHOUT MOM, THE ACCUSED and the previously announced AN UNEXPECTED LOVE (El amor menos pensado), a funny and hugely entertaining smash-hit romantic comedy starring Ricardo Darín and Mercedes Morán as a long-married couple who begin to question the true meaning of love and desire after becoming empty-nesters.

In the number one Argentinian film of the year, TEN DAYS WITHOUT MOM (Mamá se fue de viaje), an exhausted mother-of-four takes a vacation away from her family, leaving her clueless husband to struggle at home with the kids for ten days with hilarious results!

Also from Argentina comes ALMOST LEGENDS (Casi leyendas), a feel-good buddy movie, in which comedic superstars Diego Peretti, Diego Torres and Santiago Segura play three men in mid-life crisis who rekindle their youthful rock-and-roll dreams in an attempt to save themselves and each other.

Guillermo Francella (The Clan) portrays a man pushed beyond his moral limits when faced with a life-or-death situation; in ANIMAL, one of the most anticipated Argentinian films of the year and from the co-writer of Birdman.

Brimming with energy, the hypnotic 1970s set Argentinian crime drama EL ÁNGEL skyrocketed to number one at the local box office and tells the true story of the beautiful and merciless Angel of Death, Argentina’s current longest-serving prisoner.

Based on the 1949 novel, IN LOVE AND IN HATE (Los que aman, odian) is a breathless romantic crime thriller cast in a classic mould – a luxury hotel, a victim whom everyone has motive to murder – and was seven-time Argentine Academy Award-nominated.

REY’S EDUCATION (La educación del Rey) is an outstanding intergenerational drama, the rise in youth crime in Argentina is explored through a friendship between a retired guard and a teen criminal.

Documentaries include POPE FRANCIS – A MAN OF HIS WORD, as Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wim Wenders embarks on a personal journey with Pope Francis, the first pontiff from the Americas, and one of the world’s most remarkable subjects.

NO DRESS CODE REQUIRED (Etiqueta no rigurosa), a rallying cry for equality and a testament to the power of ordinary people, this award-winning documentary follows Víctor and Fernando, an unassuming couple from Mexico who find themselves in the centre of a legal firestorm over their desire to get married.

NOSSA CHAPE: OUR TEAM, following a devastating plane crash in 2016,thisisthe charged story of Brazil’s Chapecoense football club, made with exclusive access to the new team, the families and the three surviving players.

Also from Brazil comes LOVELING (Benzinho), a captivating, wonderfully moving new drama from Gustavo Pizzi, which traces a mother-of-four whose life is turned upside down when her eldest son is offered the chance to pursue his sporting dreams overseas.

Comedy also features with HOW TO BREAK UP WITH YOUR DOUCHEBAG (Cómo cortar a tu patán) the Mexican smash-hit romantic comedy follows a single break-up expert who specialises in devising elaborate ways for women to break up with their douchebags.

While in hilarious Colombian comedy AMALIA, THE SECRETARY (Amalia la secretaria), Amalia, a cranky secretary has unexpected feelings awakened in her by her building’s chaotic maintenance man, and finds herself going to outrageous lengths to keep him around.

Also from Colombia, a highlight from Los Angeles’ Outfest is EVA + CANDELA (¿Cómo te llamas); the evolution of attraction from sensual to intimate to routine between a filmmaker and her lead actress in this nuanced and passionate romance.

From creators of the Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent, BIRDS OF PASSAGE (Pájaros de verano) is an astounding, epic, visually exquisite story about the Colombian drug trade, told through the perspective of a proud indigenous family.

In LUIS, a tense drama from one of the Dominican Republic’s biggest directors, a decorated policeman must confront the true meaning of justice when his spoiled teenage son breaks the law.

The Chilean winner of Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, OBLIVION VERSES (Los versos del olvido) centres on an elderly caretaker who discovers the body of an unknown young woman and embarks on an odyssey to give her a proper burial.

From Costa Rica, VIOLETA AT LAST (Violeta al fin), the vibrant and affecting Audience Award nominee at Glasgow, newly divorced 72-year-old Violeta proves that rebelliousness knows no age when finances threaten her newfound freedom.

Winner of Best Film at the 2018 Sydney Film Festival, THE HEIRESSES (Las herederas) is a piercing and emotionally compelling look into the lives of the Paraguayan wealthy through the tribulations of a hesitant woman in quiet crisis.

Cine Latino uncovers modern Cuban cinema with a retrospective trio of films little seen in Australia:

Set against the end of Batista’s dictatorship in 1956 Havana, HELLO HEMINGWAY follows a girl who aspires to a scholarship in America as she reads Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea; Cuba’s 1991 Official Selection for the Academy Awards.

Cuba’s Official Selection for the Academy Awards in 2006, EL BENNY is the musically rich biopic recounts the eventful life of 1950s bandleader Benny Moré, of the greatest Cuban musicians of the 20th century, directed by Jorge Luis Sánchez.
Sánchez also directed CUBA LIBRE (2015). In 1898 Cuba, two young boys experience the defeat of the Spanish Army in their country and the ensuing US Occupation as an intense period in their lives.

The festival takes place nationally from mid-November in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane.

Cine Latino Film Festival 2018
Melbourne: Tue 13 – Wed 28 November Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Astor Theatre
Sydney: Thu 15 – Wed 28 November Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Palace Central Platinum
Brisbane: Wed 21 November – Sun 2 December Palace Centro on James Street
Canberra: Wed 14 – Wed 28 November Palace Electric Cinema
Perth: Thu 6 – Sun 16 December Cinema Paradiso
ww.cinelatinofilmfestival.com.au

To enter this great competition just fill in the form below:

Competition will be drawn 18 November 2018, winners will be notified by mail.

The twenty-day festival, which showcases 25 films, will close with Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece PAN’S LABYRINTH. The visionary Mexican director recently took home four Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Director with a further nine nominations for his whimsical and spellbinding underwater romance The Shape of Water. To celebrate this incredible achievement, we’re bringing his beloved dark fairy-tale back to the big screen to close the 21st Festival.

Special event screenings of the film that has skyrocketed to the top of the 2018 Spanish box-office – NO FILTER (Sin rodeos) – will take place nationally with drinks and music before the film. In NO FLITER, one of Spain’s most popular comedic talents, Santiago Segura, directs Maribel Verdú as a woman who takes a remedy that makes her unable to stop speaking her mind.

The REEL ESPAÑOL spotlight celebrates all the best new Spanish cinema. With hit dramas including: LOVING PABLO – starring Penélope Cruz as a journalist who strikes up a romantic relationship with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar (Javier Bardem); Audience Award winning THE OPEN DOOR, which stars Carmen Machi as a prostitute past her prime living with her senile but feisty mother; a standout cast of Spain’s finest actors star in historical epic GOLD; and DYING (Morir) from breakout director Fernando Franco – a follow-up to his
Spanish Academy Award winning debut Wounded.

The section also celebrates all the fun and cheekiness of Spanish culture with laugh-out-loud comedies: LORD, GIVE ME PATIENCE (Señor, dame paciencia) about an ultraconservative father who has to spend a weekend with his dysfunctional adult children and their partners; from maverick director Pablo Berger comes madcap comedy ABRACADABRA; three overprotective fathers conspire to scare off their daughters’ no-good boyfriends in IT’S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD (Es por tu bien); and in the heist comedy OPERATION GOLDENSHELL (Operación concha), a con artist hires a lookalike to pose as a movie star to scam an investor.

Other festival favourites in this program strand include: MIST & THE MAIDEN (La niebla y la doncella), adapted from Lorenzo Silva’s best-selling novel and featuring a roll-call of Spanish favourites; Spanish Academy Award nominee Marc Clotet (The Sleeping Voice 2011) and Melina Matthews (The Returned 2013) star in period drama THE CHESS PLAYER (El jugador de ajedrez), Luis Oliveros’s second feature; the latest work from filmmaking duo Bacha Caravedo and Chinón Higashionna THE SOLAR SYSTEM (El sistema solar); and RE-EVOLUTION, an action-thriller which packs in an all-star cast including Fele Martínez, Hovik Keuchkerian and Juan Pablo Shuk.

The REEL DIRECTORAS sidebar showcases the innovative work being produced by the next generation of Spain’s female directors. The programme includes four feature debuts, most notably Carla Simón’s internationally award-winning SUMMER 1993 – which enjoys encore screenings by popular demand, having amassed 28 award wins and 44 nominations across the globe, including Best New Director at the Spanish Academy Awards, the Best First Feature at the London Film Festival and Best Film at the Mumbai Film Festival since its 2017 premiere. The stellar line-up also includes Ana Murugarren’s THE BASTARDS’ FIG TREE,
Marina Seresesky’s THE OPEN DOOR, and Elena Martín’s JÚLIA IS.

In REEL RETROSPECTIVE: THE BIGAS LUNA TRIBUTE a four-film programme will celebrate the work of internationally renowned Spanish director Bigas Luna who simultaneously launched the careers of Javier Bardem, Jordi Mollà and Penelope Cruz. This retrospective includes his critically-acclaimed ‘Iberian Portraits Trilogy’: JAMÓN, JAMÓN (1992), GOLDEN BALLS (1993) and THE TIT AND THE MOON (1994); as well as the Australian premiere of the posthumous documentary BIGAS X BIGAS (2017), based on his video-diaries. The trilogy offers a complex depiction of a Spain in transition, where older customs and stereotypes associated with the rural, simpler past survive alongside newly introduced European/global, capitalist values. Screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández (Durham University) and Professor Alfredo Martínez Expósito (The University of Melbourne). Drinks and tapas will be served with
Spanish guitar music for the events in Melbourne (22 April), Brisbane (29 April) and Sydney (1 May). This event is sponsored by the Spanish Embassy in Australia (Spanish Cooperation), Durham University and The University of Melbourne.

The REEL INFANTIL section for kid-friendly films includes two stand-out features. The first is TAD THE LOST EXPLORER AND THE SECRET OF KING MIDAS – the sequel to the highest-grossing animated film in Spain of all time. This time amateur explorer Tad Jones must stop a millionaire who’s after King Midas’s necklace. The other family film is Disney Pixar’s Academy Award winning COCO. Full of wit, music, and colour, this beloved animation follows a young boy who dreams of being a musician despite his family’s generations old ban on music.

Spanish Film Festival 2018
NSW 17 April – 6 May Palace Verona, Palace Norton Street, Palace Central Sydney
ACT 18 April – 6 May Palace Electric
VIC 19 April – 6 May Palace Cinema Como, Kino Cinemas, Palace Brighton Bay, The Astor Theatre & Palace Westgarth
WA 26 April – 16 May Cinema Paradiso
QLD 26 April – 13 May Palace Barracks & Palace Centro James St
SA 26 April – 13 May Palace Nova Eastend & Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
TAS 3 May – 9 May State Cinema
www.spanishfilmfestival.com

COCO follows the story of Miguel, who dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music – which leads him on a journey to the colourful Land of the Dead.

This special screening is perfect for Spanish speaking families and kids, as well as those looking to practice their Spanish-speaking skills!

Disney Pixar’s COCO – Special screening in Spanish!
10am January 21, 2018
Palace Barracks Brisbane
www.cinelatinofilmfestival.com.au