Director Pablo Berger's retelling of the Grimm Brothers' Snow White story is generating a lot of buzz right now. A silent, black-and-white, Spanish reinterpretation of that well-known childhood tale, the film is wowing critics and charming the pants off judges at film festivals worldwide (particularly San Sebastian and Toronto). It well may snaffle the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Macarena García gives a much-applauded performance as Carmen, a young orphan girl who suffers under the tyranny of her wicked stepmother Encarna, played with evil relish by Maribel Verdú. Long story short, she changes her name to Blancanieves (Spanish for Snow White, obvs), teams up with a crew of wily dwarves and becomes a successful bullfighter. There's lots of flamenco music, some fabulous cinematography and a stellar Spanish cast. Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian enthuses, "All I can say is that there's a flash of pure inspiration, unfakeable and unmistakable, in this extraordinarily enjoyable film." If you struggled to sit through 2011's silent black-and-white hit The Artist you might already be ruling this out — but you should know that Blancanieves is a very different film, one that Berger had already been working on for eight years by the time Jean Dujardin's face was first lighting up the screen at Cannes. Blancanieves is in cinemas on October 24, and thanks to Rialto Distribution, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
