Screening the Child: Spanish Film Club

This event has ended.

Screening the Child is a series of virtual film screenings & talks on the theme of the child in Ibero-american cinema.

In partnership with Pragda Spanish Film Club and the Modern Languages departments of Cardiff University and the University of Exeter, we are delighted to share with you this series of film screenings and discussions titled ‘Screening the Child: the Child’s Gaze in Spanish Language Cinema.’

Curated by Rachel Beaney, Ph.D. student in Hispanic Studies, this festival brings together five films that feature a child protagonist. In the films presented, the child character experiences political, social, and cultural change. The filmmakers foreground the perspective of the child character to present and reframe historical events, family dynamics, and societal transformations.

Each film will be available to watch for one week and this will be supported by a Q&A Zoom discussion on selected films with academics and cinephiles.

With thanks also to the support of the AHRC SWW DTP.
The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of Pragda, The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Spain, and SPAIN arts & culture.

If you have any queries, please contact beaneyr@cardiff.ac.uk

Registration
To access the virtual cinema, please register via the Eventbrite page.

To attend the virtual talks, please register via the individual Zoom links below.

PROGRAMME

Available to screen between 1– 8 February:
The Country of Fear (El país del miedo) 
Francisco Espada / Spain / 102 min / 2015 / Spanish with English subtitles

Carlos, Sara, and their preteen son Pablo, live a peaceful middle-class life until Sara begins to notice things disappearing in the house. She blames the Moroccan maid and eventually fires her. But the stealing doesn’t stop; Pablo is the culprit. Fearful, Carlos decides to follow Pablo to school where he discovers that a 13-year-old classmate, Marta, is bullying and extorting Pablo.

Available to screen between 11–18 February:
Black Bread (Pa negre) 
Agustí Villaronga / Spain / 108 min / 2011 / Spanish with English subtitles

Black Bread is set in the war-ravaged Catalan countryside of the early 1940s where a local man is accused of murder and his son sets out to find the truth. Eleven-year-old Andreu stumbles upon a crushed wagon in the underbrush at the foot of a high cliff and witnesses the dying moments of the man and boy inside. When police suspect Andreu’s father of foul play, he goes into hiding and Andreu is sent to live with relatives. There, the frightened boy creates a fantasy life, but is forced to confront a world of adult deception, festering hatreds and the war’s monstrous consequences.

Monday 15th February, 18:00 GMT:
Zoom Webinar Round Table Discussion: Black Bread
Speakers include Professor Erin Hogan (University of Maryland Baltimore County, UMBC), Dr Eva Bru-Domínguez (Bangor University), Dr Fiona Noble, Researcher of Spanish Visual Culture, Dr Ryan Prout (Cardiff University) and Meleri Jenkins (Cardiff University).
Please register to join us for a discussion of the film.

Available to screen between 17– 24 February:
Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993) 
Carla Simón / Spain / 96 min / 2017 / Spanish with English subtitles

In the summer of 1993, following the death of her parents to AIDS, six-year-old Frida is forced from bustling Barcelona to the Catalan provinces to live with her aunt and uncle, her new legal guardians.

Monday 22 February 16:00 GMT:
Zoom Webinar Round Table Discussion: Summer 1993
Speakers include Dr Sarah Thomas (Brown University), Professor Sally Faulkner (University of Exeter), Dr Stuart Davis, (University of Cambridge), Professor Sarah Wright (Royal Holloway), Raquel Martínez Martín (University of Strathclyde) and Ben Rive (Snowcat Cinema).
Please register to join us for a discussion of the film.

Available to screen from 25 February – 4 March:
Bad Hair (Pelo malo)
Mariana Rondón / Venezuela / 93 min / 2013 / Spanish with English subtitles

A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother, in this tender but clear-eyed coming-of-age tale.

Monday 1st March, 18:00 GMT
Zoom Webinar Round Table Discussion: Bad Hair (Pelo malo). Speakers include Professor Sally Faulkner, Dr Katie Brown, Dr Natalia Pinazza, Adam Feinstein, Dr Rebecca Jarman and Professor Maria Delgado. Please register to join us for a discussion of the film.

Available to screen from 5– 12 March:
I, girl (Yo, niña) 
Natural Arpajou / Argentina / 85 min / 2018 / Spanish with English subtitles

Based on the director’s autobiographical experiences, I Girl tells the story of Armonía, a little girl who lives with Pablo and Julia, who seem to be her parents, in an idyllic landscape of lakes, rivers, and forests in southern Argentina. They are neo-hippies, vegetarians, promiscuous, questioners of the system, and have problems with the law.