The film programme for 2014’s ¡Viva! – Cornerhouse’s annual Spanish & Latin American Film Festival, which returns for the 20th time 7 – 23 March – is now available.
The UK’s largest, most popular Hispanic-languages film programme, ¡Viva! 2014 will feature outstanding new films from comedies to documentaries, blockbusters to indies. It will also welcome leading directors, actors and film experts to present talks, Q&As and workshops.
¡Viva! is one of Cornerhouse’s most popular events, with the 19th festival welcoming around 9000 visitors over a three-week period in 2013. For this 20th incarnation Cornerhouse has drawn on its LiveWire young people’s programme to make 14-19-year-olds a key part of the programming process, alongside film specialists, Spanish language academics and colleagues from the Instituto Cervantes in Manchester.
Festival Co-ordinator Jessie Gibbs said: “After months of research and film viewings I’m delighted with the programme we’ve put together to celebrate the festival’s 20th birthday. We have a really strong showing from Argentina, including our wonderful opening film Días de vinilo, and a personal favourite of mine is Cazando luciérnagas, an exquisitely beautiful, low-key film from Colombia. From the sublime to the ridiculous, I also can’t wait to see Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi – the latest piece of mayhem from comedy-horror master Álex de la Iglesia – on the big screen.”
The festival’s opening film will be Días de vinilo, a feel-good Argentinian comedy about four record-obsessed 30-somethings who gradually realise there might be more to life – with first-time director Gabriel Nesci flying over from Buenos Aires to present his film (as well as giving an exclusive Q&A 9 March). Comedy will be well represented throughout the programme, representing over a quarter of its films, counter-balanced by post-apocalyptic dramas Los Últimos dias and El Limpiador (Peru’s submission to the 2014 Oscars).
The festival also includes a number of gay-interest films, including La Partida, a preview of Pelo malo and documentary Born Naked (MLB), which explores lesbian life in Madrid, London and Berlin. Other documentaries include 24 cines por segundo: Sábanas blancas, an absorbing survey of the Spanish film industry, and Con la pata quebrada, Diego Galán’s light-hearted look at depictions of women in film since the early 20th century.
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DOWNLOAD / VIEW THE PROGRAMME OF EVENTS HERE.
Viva Film Festival Brochure 2014 low res
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20th ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Film Festival
7 – 23 March 2014
