For its 23rd edition, ¡Viva! returns with a venue-wide celebration of film, theatre and visual art from across the Spanish-speaking world. Commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the abolition of censorship in Spain, this year we’re drawing inspiration from La Transición – the era of cultural revolution sparked by the transition to democracy.
We present a series of films from and about the period, including Pedro Almodóvar classic Pepi, Luci, Bom. Emma Frankland’s new theatre show Republica is inspired by another historical period of transition in Spain and the last time democracy was seen before the Franco dictatorship.
In the gallery, we present a major new contemporary group visual art exhibition reacting to the hedonistic counterculture movement La Movida madrileña, curated by Sarah Perks.
That’s just the start – from 31 Mar to 17 Apr you can dive into live music events, great international theatre and dance performances, including One-Hit Wonders, which marks the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona contemporary dance company Sol Picó. The packed film programme also features the best in new Spanish and Latin American filmmaking, including 15 UK premieres, filmmaker Q&As, and films from 10 different countries – Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
We’re also pleased to announce a range of talks and discussions, including ¡Viva! favourite Café Cervantes. Check out our events responding to current debates in the industry: a special focus on contemporary women cineastes with a panel discussion including visiting female filmmakers, and a review of the flourishing Basque film industry.
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In this festival
El Cristo ciego Programme Notes
Download the programme notes for El Cristo ciego, part of ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival (31 Mar-17 Apr 2017).
¡Viva! 2017 Basque Language Taster notes
Download the event notes for the ¡Viva! 2017 Basque language taster, part of ¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival (31 Mar-17 Apr 2017).
¡Viva! Festival Podcast – Spanish
¡Viva! Festival is back for its 23rd year to celebrate the best in Spanish and Latin American culture. However with a schedule that's so jam-packed…
¡Viva! Festival Podcast – English
¡Viva! Festival is back for its 23rd year to celebrate the best in Spanish and Latin American culture. However with a schedule that's so jam-packed…
Blogs
Viva 2017 Storify Round Up
¡Viva! Festival is back for its 23rd year! With our biggest celebration of Spanish & Latin American culture currently in full swing, find out what…
Theatre
HOME presentsScratch Performance: Archimedes’ Principle
How safe are our children in the care of a stranger? Barcelona playwright Josep Maria Miro's play looks at a town haunted by an incident…
Previously in this Festival
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La Tierra roja Intro
The screening on Thu 13 Apr will be introduced by Dr Ignacio Aguiló, University of Manchester. This introduction will be BSL interpreted and the film…
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El Diputado Intro
This screening is introduced by Dr Andy Willis, University of Salford and our Senior Visiting Curator of Film. This introduction will be BSL interpreted and…
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El Mundo sigue Post-screening Disscussion
Dr Stuart Green from the University of Leeds joins us for a post-screening discussion following the screening on Sun 9 Apr.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Distancias cortas
Morbidly obese Fede finds an old undeveloped camera film and is inspired to venture out to a photography studio, which changes his life forever.
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In Conversation with Josep Maria Miró Coromina
Join Josep Maria Miró Coromina in conversation with our Artistic Director of Theatre, Walter Meierjohann, as they discuss the artistic and creative scene in Barcelona…
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Arrebato Intro
This screening is introduced by Andy Willis, University of Salford and our Senior Visiting Curator of Film. This introduction will be BSL interpreted and the…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ El Cristo ciego
Michael believes he is Christ, everyone else thinks he’s a fool: only a miracle can repair their faith. Receiving news of an old friend in…
Cinema
Camino a La Paz
A delightful odd-couple road movie about two very different men driving more than 1800 miles from Buenos Aires to the Bolivian city of La Paz.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ El Amparo
Based on the remarkable true story of two survivors of a massacre on the Arauca River in the late 1980s, a shocking story of institutional corruption.
Theatre
HOME presentsScratch Performance: Smoke
A scratch performance of Barcelona playwright Josep Maria Miro's Smoke, which follows two couples who meet in a hotel of a developing country. Directed by…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Kalebegiak
Twelve portraits of the city of San Sebastian, European Capital of Culture 2016.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Almacenados
After 39 years as caretaker at the Salvaleon warehouse, Mr Lino is preparing for retirement, and he spends the last five days at work training…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Presos
A teenage girl from a religious and respectable family gets involved with a prison inmate, leading to serious consequences for everyone concerned – how far would…
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Panel Discussion/ Contemporary Female Filmmakers in Spain
An informal and informative discussion with visiting female filmmakers Nely Reguera and Mariela Artiles. Open to everyone, from the general public to aspiring filmmakers and film…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ La Madre
An engaging drama about a 14-year-old Spanish boy trying his best to stay out of the care system, with a single mum who’s tragically incapable…
Cinema
7 días de enero
A reconstruction of the tragic 1977 Massacre of Atocha, when extremists stormed the offices of lawyers with links to the Spanish Communist Party, leaving 5 dead…
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El Pico Intro
This screening is introduced by Andy Willis, University of Salford and our Senior Visiting Curator of Film. This introduction will be BSL interpreted and the…
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The Family Fiesta
Our final fiesta is a day of two halves. During the day families are invited to drop-in and share the traditional cultures of the indigenous…
Cinema
Zip & Zap and the Marble Gang
Naughty twins Zip and Zap are sent to summer school at a strict re-education centre run by Falconetti, who rules with a heavy hand and an…
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Hustler White – In Conversation with Bruce LaBruce
This screening will be followed by a post-screening In Conversation session with our Visual Arts Programme Manager Bren O'Callaghan and artist Bruce LaBruce.
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The Mestisa Fiesta
Salsa dancing and flamenco guitar, the freshest new talent and a devilish duo, we're mixing things up with the Salsa fiesta in our ¡Viva! tent.
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The Cuban Fiesta
Put on your dancing shoes and join in - there's something for every level. Practice your moves and enjoy the ultimate Cuban House Party experience.…
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The Honeyfeet Fiesta
Blending blues, folk, jazz and disco, folk-hop and barrelhouse-pop, Honeyfeet are a conduit for the ideas and expressions of an exotic mixture of Manchester based…
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The Traffic Raveover Fiesta
To celebrate the launch of La Movida, Traffic Manchester takeover the Fiesta stage. Beginning with flamencoo and feminist punk, Traffick then welcome you to a…
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The Colaboración Fiesta
Enjoy a drink and embrace the Latin vibe of the ¡Viva! tent where three of the UK's most celebrated musicians come together to create a…
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A Queer Revue! Cabaret Fiesta
A Queer Revue! takeover will be radical, magical, subversive and free. A Queer Revue! is the wild quarterly LGBT+ cabaret event at Band on the…
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¡Viva! Fiestas
For this year's ¡Viva! we're introducing a special festival tent delivering live music, performance, workshops, dance and brand new commissions in Tony Wilson Place. For…
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¡Viva! family fun and games
In this one-hour workshop based on playing, we will discover Spanish language and culture through some traditional fun and games. Please note children must be accompanied…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ El Soñador
Sebastian leads a life of petty crime in Lima, Peru. After a violent incident and a forbidden liaison turn his gang members against him, he can…
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La Novia Intro
This screening will be introduced by Dr Abigail Loxham, University of Manchester. This introduction will be BSL interpreted and the film will include English subtitles.
Cinema
El Diputado
The clandestine homosexuality of a left-wing politician is used against him in a blackmail plot when he falls in love with an adolescent.
Cinema
El Mundo sigue
Two sisters, with an extreme case of sibling rivalry, each try to find success, love and status in 1960s Madrid.
Cinema
Cien años de perdón
In this stylish thriller set in Valencia, a meticulously planned bank heist goes dangerously wrong when torrential rain floods the escape route.
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La Puerta abierta Q&A
We are pleased to welcome director Marina Seresesky and producer Álvaro Lavín for a Q&A following the screening on Tue 4 Apr.
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Pasaje de vida Q&A
We are pleased to welcome director Diego Corsini for a Q&A following the UK premiere on Sun 2 Apr.
Cinema
Hustler White
Hustler White is a roller coaster ride of sex, money, depravity… and romance!
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Pasaje de vida
Based on real events, young idealistic revolutionaries make the deadly transition from peaceful protest to clandestine armed struggle under the end of the Perón government.
Cinema
La Puerta abierta
A film about family, women, a community of prostitutes, and second chances.
Theatre
Sol Picó presentsOne-Hit Wonders
To mark her 20th anniversary, ground-breaking Spanish choreographer and flamenco star Sol Picó celebrates with the one-night only, UK premiere of One-Hit Wonders.
Cinema
Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón
The eponymous female trio confront the heteronormative machismo of 1980s Spain in flamboyant style, with a heady mix of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll.
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Santa y Andrés
The story of an improbable friendship between Santa, a revolutionary country girl, and Andrés, a gay writer blacklisted by the Cuban government for having ‘ideological…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ María (y los demás)
María has been a homemaker for her brothers and father for the past twenty years, but at the age of 35 she suddenly finds herself…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ KIMUAK 2016
The latest edition of the KIMUAK collection of Basque short films.
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Talk/ Our Sentiments Exactly: Transition in Spain and Spanish Cinema
An illustrated talk on La Transición and how citizenship in Spain was re-imagined in terms of new sentiments of belonging to communities that had little to do with…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ La Propera pell
Teenager Leo, apparently suffering from a case of dissociative amnesia after a psychological shock, is identified in a French delinquency centre as Gabriel, Ana’s long-lost…
Cinema
El Comienzo del tiempo
Antonio and Bertha, a couple in their 90s living in Mexico City, experience extreme financial hardship when social security pensions are suspended during a crisis.
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¡Viva! 2017 Basque Language Taster
Basque speakers and learners of all levels, even absolute beginners, are welcome to this relaxed introduction to the language, to celebrate the vibrant Basque film…
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Preview: La Movida
Join us for the preview of La Movida as we unveil new commissions, provocative installations and live performances from artists La JohnJoseph, Oreet Ashery and…
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¡Viva! 2017 Opening Fiesta
Head down to Tony Wilson Place on First Street as we celebrate the launch of the festival on our special outside ¡Viva! Stage. Dance along…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Aislados
An exquisite portrait of life on a group of minute artificial islands off the Caribbean coast near Cartagena: a community of 800 people eke out…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ La Tierra roja
A contemporary environmental western, set in the remote region of Misiones, about grassroots struggle against global capitalism and cynical governance.
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Barcelona Now
As part of ¡Viva! 2017, we explore two scripts from Barcelona playwright Josep Maria Miró, Smoke and The Archimedes' Principle.
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Adult Study Session/ El Comienzo del tiempo
Following an introduction in Spanish and a full screening of El Comienzo del tiempo, attendees will practise their Spanish language skills through discussing topics such as: inter-generational…
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Pikadero Q&A
We are pleased to welcome actress Bárbara Goenaga for a Q&A following the screening on Sat 8 Apr.
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KIMUAK 2016 Q&A
We are pleased to welcome director María Elorza from Las Chicas de Pasaik for a Q&A following the screening on Sat 8 Apr.
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Alejandría Cinque presents After
Alejandría Cinque presents After, an exploration of 3-sides to their artistic persona drawing upon the transvestite, the sex worker and the junkie. Presented in an…
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María (y los demás) Q&A
We are pleased to welcome director Nely Reguera for a Q&A following the screening on Fri 7 Apr.
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La Movida: Artist and Curator Tour
Led by Sarah Perks, curator of La Movida and our Director of Visual Art, accompanied by Oreet Ashery, Bruce LaBruce, Luis López Carrasco, Clara Casian…