Spanish Film Festival Announces Its Jam-Packed 2019 Lineup

Overview

When Australia's annual Spanish Film Festival returns this year, it'll offer cinephiles a two-for-one affair. Fancy seeing the latest and greatest movies from the European country? Keen to watch fresh flicks from Spanish-speaking Latin America too? They're both on the lineup.

While Latin American cinema has received its own dedicated Aussie fest over the past three years, in 2019 the Cine Latino Film Festival will form part of the Spanish Film Festival. In short: this year's April–May fest presents the best of both worlds across a 32-title program that'll tour the country.

It all gets started with the Aussie premiere of applauded and acclaimed Spanish comedy Champions, which picked up this year's Goya award for best film, as well as the best new actor prize for star Jesús Vidal. The feel-good flick follows an amateur Spanish basketball team comprised of players with mental disabilities and an arrogant coach who's sentenced to community service to help them bounce their way to glory.

At the other end of the event is a bona fide classic: Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. While the festival sadly hasn't snagged the Spanish director's latest, the Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz-starring Pain and Glory, it will close out the 2019 lineup with this 1988 black comedy — one of the movies that first helped bring Banderas to fame.

Other program highlights include action-packed bank robbery drama 70 Big Ones, moody thriller The Uncovering, doppelgänger effort Ana by Day, character-driven melodrama Petra, and comedy Super Crazy, which focuses on a woman who suddenly can't stop speaking her mind. If you've ever wanted to know all there is to know about olive oil, there's also a documentary on the topic: Virgin & Extra: Jaén, The Land of the Olive Oil. And from the Cine Latino contingent, Argentinian title Royo delves into corruption before the country's mid-70s coup, while Tremors explores a Guatemalan family's secrets. The Projectionist also road trips through the Dominican Republic and comedy Looking for a Boyfriend... For My Wife reunites the cast of Chile's version of Married with Children.

Across its full slate, the Spanish Film Festival also showcases 11 titles by female filmmakers, ranging from established talents to up-and-comers. Watch out for romance Carmen & Lola, which has proven a hit on the queer circuit; star-studded comedy-thriller Crime Wave, which stars Maribel Verdú, Javier Cámara and Luis Tosar; and the 1982-set The Good Girls, which follows the wives of wealthy Mexican men.