This weekend is your last chance to soak up the ¡Viva! sunshine until 2013! We’ve no fewer than four UK premieres screening this weekend: Hermano, Primos, Acorazado and Pequeñas voces.
Why not start the weekend with bang on Friday night with surrealist horror film Balada triste de trompeta, a truly unique combination of the ‘baroquely sinister and grotesquely funny’. Get ready for a wild ride as Spanish auteur Alex de la Iglesia explores new extremes in the context of 1970s Francoist Spain.
Where Balada triste de trompeta explodes on the screen, La Mirada invisible represents an alternative metaphor for dictatorship in the stiflingly controlled and obsessively monitored regime of an elite Buenos Aires school. Check out the LiveWire review here and book tickets for the screening on Saturday lunchtime here.
On Saturday night you’re all invited to come and party at the ¡Fiesta clausura! down the road at the Instituto Cervantes (opposite the Hilton Hotel). Entry is free, but please pick up a ticket from Cornerhouse Box Office in advance.
Sunday is a day for premieres and previews, starting with the Mexican/Cuban comedy Acorazado to set you in a happy lunchtime mood – see our Digital Reporter’s review here.
On Sunday afternoon there is a rare opportunity to see Pequeñas voces, a wonderful animated documentary from Colombia, and one of my festival favourites this year – check out our Digital Reporter’s review here.
And Sunday evening sadly sees the festival draw to a close for now, but we’re ending in style with Bonsái, the latest film from Chilean director Cristián Jiménez (Ilusiones ópticas).
Enjoy it while you can!
Jessie Gibbs
¡Viva! Festival Co-ordinator