Now in its 28th year, ¡Viva! returns for our annual celebration of Spanish and Latin American culture, bringing you a programme of the most exciting cinema from across the Spanish-speaking world. This year we screen 19 new feature films, including multiple UK cinema premieres, as well as two classic films from Spanish maestro Luis García Berlanga.
Join us on the opening night for the joyous musical extravaganza Explota explota, and then continue your cinematic journey through heartfelt drama, intriguing documentary, thrilling tension and gentle comic relief on a voyage of discovery across Spain and Latin America.
In this festival
News
¡Viva! Sustainability Highlights
For our ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival, here are three titles which look at sustainability and the environment.
Blogs
Érase una vez en Euskadi review, by Michele Pezzuto
Michele Pezzuto reviews Érase una vez en Euskadi for HOME, screening as part of the ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival 2022
Blogs
¡Viva! Film Notes – La Chica nueva
Jessie Gibbs, ¡Viva! Festival Coordinator, explores Micaela Gonzalo’s La Chica nueva, screening as part of ¡Viva! Festival 2022.
Blogs
¡Viva! Film Notes – Josefina
Dr Abigail Loxham, University of Liverpool, explores Javier Marco’s Josefina, screening as part of ¡Viva! Festival 2022.
Blogs
Welcome to ¡Viva! 2022
With 50 screenings of 21 films from Spain, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Mexico, we can’t wait to welcome you…
VIVA Festival
Out of the Archives: Berlanga in the ‘80s
In ¡Viva! 2022 we screen two key examples of the director’s films from the 1980s: La Vaquilla and Patrimonio nacional.
Blogs
¡Viva! Film Notes – El Árbol negro
Dr Ignacio Aguiló, Senior Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies at The University of Manchester, explores Máximo Ciambella and Damián Coluccio’s El Árbol negro ,…
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Bantú Mama recorded intro
Recorded introduction from Anthony Andrews, Creative Director of We Are Parable, on Sat 26 Mar.
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La Chica nueva introduction
Introduced by Jessie Gibbs, ¡Viva! Festival Coordinator, on Sun 3 Apr 2022.
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Preview/ Clara Sola introduction
Introduced by Dr Carmen Herrero, Manchester Metropolitan University, on Tue 22 Mar 2022.
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Josefina + introduction
Introduced by Dr Abigail Loxham, University of Liverpool, with BSL interpretation, on Mon 21 Mar.
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Explota explota + Q&A
We are pleased to welcome writer/director Nacho Álvarez for a Q&A on Sat 19 Mar.
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Maixabel + Q&A
We are pleased to welcome writer/director Icíar Bollaín for a Q&A on Wed 23 Mar.
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Érase una vez en Euskadi + Q&A
We are pleased to welcome writer/director Manu Gómez for a Q&A on Tue 29 Mar.
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Libertad + Q&A
We are pleased to welcome actor Maria Morera for a Q&A on Thu 31 Mar.
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Karnawal introduction
Introduced by Prof Andy Willis, University of Salford and HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film, on The 24 Mar.
Cinema
La Primavera siempre vuelve
Grandma Margara watches her grandchildren grow up and leave home. People may return, or not. But spring will always come back.
Cinema
Un Amor en rebeldía
At the end of the 70s, Yan María Castro became one of the founders of the first lesbian organization in Mexico.
Cinema
Y así aparecieron los ríos
This animation takes viewers into the magical and beautiful world of the Amazon region, reminding us of our sacred connection to water.
Cinema
Los Conspiradores
During the clandestine political struggle to overthrow the Franco regime, the most important thing was to know how to wait.
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La Vaquilla introduction
Introduced by Prof Andy Willis, University of Salford and HOME’s Senior Visiting Curator: Film, on Sun 3 Apr.
Previously in this Festival
Cinema
Clara Sola
Clara, a shy woman brought up as a holy innocent, experiences a late sexual awakening with sensuous abandon that shatters all previous constraints.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ El Árbol rojo
Eliécer and his little sister embark on a spectacular but dangerous 850km journey from the Caribbean coast through the lush mountains up to Bogotá.
Cinema
Bantú Mama
A French woman escapes custody in the Dominican Republic and finds shelter in the most dangerous district of Santo Domingo.
Cinema
Explota explota
To the soundtrack of superstar Raffaella Carrà, a young dancer brings riotous colour to the grey Spain of the 1970s.
Cinema
La Vida era eso
María, a Spanish émigré living in Belgium, relishes a later life blossoming on a road trip to Cabo de Gata, Almería.
Cinema
Mis hermanos sueñan despiertos
Ángel and his younger brother Franco are languishing in a juvenile prison deep in the hills of southern Chile, incarcerated for a year awaiting trial.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Érase una vez en Euskadi
The Basque Country, 1985, and the summer holidays are finally here for four 12-year-old boys.
Cinema
Nudo mixteco
In a Mixtec village in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, we follow the intertwining stories of three indigenous women from a traditionally macho community.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ La Estrella roja
In Lichtmann’s own words, this is a “a spy movie, a fiction about a documentary, a story built with elements from History with a capital…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ La Ciudad de las fieras
When a teenager runs into trouble with local gang members, he escapes Medellín and heads for his grandfather's gladioli farm in the mountains.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Nueve Sevillas
An absorbingly immersive and thoroughly enjoyable documentary about flamenco, politics, identity and Seville.
Cinema
La Chica nueva
A young woman fleeing homelessness and a precarious existence in the big city, makes her way down to the island of Tierra del Fuego.
Cinema
Patrimonio nacional
After the death of Franco and the restoration of the monarchy, the Marqués de Leguineche returns to Madrid to curry favour with the King.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Contactado
Dive into the weird and wonderful world of cults, alien conspiracy theories and Andean legends that all swirl around the city of Lima.
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¡Viva! 2022 Café Cervantes
Grab a drink from the bar for this informal gathering of Spanish-speaking film lovers. Come and practise your language skills while sharing your opinions on…
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Language Lab/ La Vida era eso
Following an introduction in Spanish to a screening of La Vida era eso with English subtitles, practise your Spanish language skills with a specially designed…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Josefina
The tentative relationship that develops between Juan and Berta is founded on an initial untruth, but is it just the tonic that these two lonely…
