Spanish Cinema Now Dec 7 - 27, 2001 photo: anita takes a chance / anita no perd el tren Read about our box office sales here.

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Presented in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (ICAA). The holiday season comes especially early for Walter Reade audiences, as each December we dedicate the lion's share of our program to both new and classic Spanish cinema. When the series began in 1992, the film industry in Spain was facing a deep crisis; production was down, and domestic audiences seemed to be staying away from Spanish films. The past few years, however, have witnessed a virtual renaissance of filmmakers and filmmaking: new talents have successfully reached Spain's younger generation, making it perhaps the most loyal of all domestic audiences for Spanish films. Established directors such as Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, Bigas Lunas, Vicente Aranda and Carlos Saura continue to make fresh, provocative works, while several Spanish actors - Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes, Javier Bardem - have become popular and critically acclaimed internationally. Join us for this year's selection, which includes sidebars on directors Montxo Armendáriz and Luis Garciá Berlanga. Celebrating Luis Garciá Berlanga, Spain's Master Satirist We're pleased to welcome to the Walter Reade Theater one of the most important figures of Spanish film history, director Luis G. Berlanga. Together with Juan Bardem in the early fifties, Berlanga shook up what had been a fairly dormant Spanish cinema with a series of works - That Happy Couple, Calabuch, and especially WELCOME, MR. MARSHALL! - that revealed uncomfortable truths about the rigidly controlled Francoist society. Even as the regime began to ease up a bit in the early sixties, Berlanga, often working with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, became if anything even more barbed in his criticisms in works such as PLÁCIDO and THE EXECUTIONER. Yet, beyond being important documents of the growing social resistance to Franco, Berlanga's films are treasures because their extraordinary humor always seems to propel his often madcap tales into more general, timeless observations on the human condition. There are rarely villains in his works, just characters with greater or lesser levels of self-delusion. This will be a rare opportunity to see some of Berlanga's key works, all of them certified classics of Spanish cinema. Hidden Worlds: The Films of Montxo Armendáriz Since his debut feature, TASIO, in 1984, Montxo Armendáriz has been one of the most critically acclaimed, and consistently popular, of Spanish directors. Born in 1949, in the Basque region of Navarra, Armendáriz turned to filmmaking after studying and teaching electrical engineering. After a number of acclaimed short films, veteran producer Elías Querejeta invited him to make a first feature. The result was TASIO, a beautiful, delicate observation of the world of a rural charcoal worker in Armendáriz's native Navarra. Often cited as one of the best Spanish films of the decade, TASIO established a style of quiet restraint that would continue to be seen in his films. Much of its impact was due to its marked distinction from the Spanish cinema that had grown up under the Franco regime - a cinema that was forced to often speak in metaphors or allegories, a kind of almost cabalistic cinema that demanded readings from the audience. TASIO on the contrary was simple, direct; it asked us to look at a man's life as being representative of nothing more than that life itself. Armendáriz followed that success with another: 27 HOURS. The setting was the demi-monde of petty thieves and drug addicts around the docks of Donostia (San Sebastian). Although the setting could not have been more different than that of TASIO, in many ways the approach was exactly similar; again, Armendáriz observes his characters without judgement, without sentimentality. LETTERS FROM ALOU took Armendáriz into the world of illegal immigrants in Spain, whereas KRONEN introduces us to some lost madrileño Gen-Xers. In each film, Armendáriz selects a group somewhat on the fringes of mainstream society and then shows us its denizens, its codes and its dreams. With his fifth film, SECRETS OF THE HEART, he scored his greatest international success thus far. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Secrets shifted the director's focus from the observation of a world to the experience of a world through one child's eyes, yet the film still feels very much of a piece with his earlier works. This year Armendáriz released BROKEN SILENCE, one of the first Spanish films to deal extensively with the phenomenon of the maquis, those opponents of Franco's regime who formed armed resisitance groups in the forties. Working with a superb cast, Armendáriz creates a stunningly rich portrait of post-Civil War Spain that never shrinks from the complexity of issues raised by the events depicted. We expect Mr. Armendáriz to join us for the opening of this series. Attention industry professionals: You can search for the rights to these films at Filmfinders.com.

tasio 27 hours / 27 horas bunñuel and king solomon's table/ bunñuel y la mesa del rey salomón

BROKEN SILENCE / SILENCIO ROTO Montxo Armendariz, 2001, Spain; 110m Montxo Armendáriz's most recent film brings us into the world of the maquis - those fighters for Republican Spain who refused to accept Franco's victory, retreating into mountain and forest hideouts across Spain while carrying on guerrilla attacks against the regime. In the autumn of 1944, 21-year-old Lucía arrives in a small mountain village to work at the bar owned by her aunt. Very quickly, she comes to learn the political landscape - those who support the maquis, the fascist sympathizers, those in between - as the ravages of Spain's ongoing political turmoil affect her family as well as everyone else in town. When is killing an act of war - and when is it simply murder? Graced with terrific performances by the likes of Lucía Jiménez, Mercedes Sampietro and Juan Diego Botto, BROKEN SILENCE is a deeply affecting portrait of post-Civil War Spain, and the idealism of men and women who idealistically continued the struggle long after the world had considered it finished. Fri Dec 7: 1 & 7:30; Sat Dec 8: 8:30; Thurs Dec 27: 3 & 7:20 WELCOME, MR. MARSHALL! /BIENVENIDO SEÑOR MARSHALL Luis Garcíá Berlanga, 1952, Spain; 82m One of the best loved of all Spanish films, WELCOME, MR. MARSHALL! begins as the local governor arrives in the sleepy Castillian town of Villar del Rio to announce that the U.S. Marshall Plan Commission - trying to decide if Spain deserved the economic credits and assistance offered to much of Europe at World War II's end - will soon be making a visit. Desperate to impress the foreigners, the townspeople, led by their redoubtable and deaf mayor, come up with a plan of their own: they re-create the town as a picture-perfect tourist fantasy of Spain, complete with women in shawls, clicking castanets and bullfighters, covering up the dire conditions in which they really live. Denounced as un-American by no less than actor Edward G. Robinson when serving on the jury at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival, MR. MARSHALL is a delightful, good-natured romp whose real target is a Spain trying to figure out its identity in a rapidly changing world. The dream sequences, in which the townspeople imagine what they'd really like from the Americans, are priceless. Fri Dec 7: 3:15; Sun Dec 9: 8; Wed Dec 12: 1 NO SHAME / SIN VERGÜENZA Joaquin Oristrell, 2001, Spain; 116m One of Spain's most respected screenwriters, Joaquin Oristrell, for his third outing as a director has fashioned a wry, witty valentine to the world of the theater and theater folk. Twenty-one years ago, a young actress had a 17-hour affair with a promising young director; today, Isabel (Veronica Forqué) is running an acting school, while Mario (Daniel Jiménez Camacho) is a world-famous director. One day, Isabel comes across a script written by Mario, in which he recounts that long ago passion in some detail; they arrange a meeting - each showing up with a much younger lover in tow - and nothing is ever the same again. Full of a host of colorful and hilarious characters, as well as some sly barbs at current Spanish cinema, NO SHAME won awards for Best Film, Best Actress and Best Screenplay at this year's Malaga Film Festival, and has proved one of the most popular Spanish films of the year. Fri Dec 7: 5:20; Sat Dec 8: 6:20; Fri Dec 14: 3:50 & 7:45 TASIO Montxo Armendáriz, 1984, Spain; 96m "One of the most important Spanish films of the Eighties." - Barry Jordan and Rikki Morgan-Yasmosunas, Contemporary Spanish Cinema Montxo Armendáriz burst onto the Spanish film scene with TASIO, a vibrant portrait that spans 30 years in the life of a young Basque in the beautiful, mountainous region of Navarre. We first see Tasio as a boy, heading off to work instead of attending school in order to help support his family; by his teenage years, he's working full time as a charcoal maker. Yet TASIO is not a film of social denunciation or a plea for reform; instead it seeks to understand the richness and complexity of a life lived even within horizons that might appear to be severely limited. Reacting perhaps against the symbol-laden, often allegorical films that defined so much of Spanish filmmaking in the '60s and '70s, TASIO offers a clear, non-judgmental approach that, according to Armendáriz, "tries to capture people not yet destroyed by life, who live quiet lives and who make freedom, love, landscapes and the simplest of things the reasons for their existence." Sat Dec 8: 1; Mon Dec 10: 1 & 5 MADNESS OF LOVE / JUANA LA LOCA Vicente Aranda, 2001, Spain; 104m One of the great, tragic stories of Spanish history is brought to vibrant life in this terrific new film by Vicente Aranda (Lovers, 1991). At 18, Juana, third child of Queen Isabela, is sent to Brussels, where she meets and marries Phillip, known in history as the Fair, related to the Hapsburg kings. The two fall passionately in love, and all is well until, unexpectedly, Juana becomes the heir to the throne of Castille and Aragon after the deaths of her mother and older siblings. Summoned back to Spain, Juana and Phillip are welcomed by the people, but their passion has cooled. While boldly taking on lovers, Phillip starts to plot to wrest the throne from Juana, hoping to have her declared insane and thus unfit to rule. Aranda is immeasurably aided by an outstanding performance by Pilar López de Ayala (winner, Best Actress, 2001 San Sebastian Film Festival), who convincingly evolves from terrified fragility to steely determinism. Aranda's sense of period detail is impeccable, yet what makes his film so moving is his attention to the passionate story behind historical figures. Sat Dec 8: 3:15; Tue Dec 11: 1; Sat Dec 15: 7:15; Sun Dec 16: 9:15 STRANGERS TO THEMSELVES / EXTRANJEROS DE SÍMISMOS Jose Luis López Linares and Javier Rioyo, 2001, Spain; 84m Co-directors López-Linares and Rioyo - previously seen in earlier editions of Spanish Cinema Now with their marvelous documentaries Storm the Skies (1997) and Regarding Buñuel (2000) - return with this revealing look at those who went off to fight in wars that were not their own. By late 1936, volunteers from around the world began arriving in Spain to defend the Spanish Republic. Simultaneously, Italian troops were sent by Mussolini to aid Franco. A few years later, Spanish volunteers (including a very young Luis G. Berlanga) filled the ranks of the notorious "Blue Division," who went to Russia to fight side-by-side with Hitler's armies against communism. Catching up with the few survivors of these forces, most of whom are well over 80, López-Linares and Rioyo allow us to experience an era in which political passions ran so hot that thousands of young men and women were willing to risk their lives for abstract causes and countries they'd never even visited. A timely and fascinating film that exposes yet another little known corner of the 20th century. Sun Dec 9: 1; Sat Dec 15: 1; Sun Dec 16: 5 BUÑUEL AND KING SOLOMON'S TABLE / BUÑUEL Y LA MESA DEL REY SALOMÓN Carlos Saura, 2001, Spain; 105m "With a title evoking the whimsical serial films of the thirties and forties, celebrated Spanish director Carlos Saura sets out to pay tribute to his friend and countryman, the renowned Aragón filmmaker Luis BuñueL. . . . In a contemporary setting, an aged Buñuel is pitched a script about three men in search of a legendary table brought to Spain from the Ottoman Empire. The plot gradually unfolds in the mind's eye: It is the thirties, and he, along with best friends and associates Garciá Lorca and Salavdor Dalí, set out on an adventure through the Toledo underworld to find the table, which will endow whomever finds it with the power to see the present, past and future. . . . Saura approaches the material with tongue in cheek and his heart on his sleeve, creating a world that might exist in the imagination of one of cinema's most original minds." - Ramiro Puerta, Toronto International Film Festival Catalog 2001 Sun Dec 9: 3:15; Tue Dec 11: 3:15; Sat Dec 15: 3; Sun Dec 16: 7

letter from alou / las cartas de alou kronen / historias del kronen paul and his brother / pau i el seu germàr

ANITA TAKES A CHANCE / ANITA NO PERD EL TREN Ventura Pons, 2001, Spain; 98m Ventura Pons - subject of a well-received retrospective at the 1999 edition of Spanish Cinema Now - returns with a terrific new film featuring a bravura performance by the wonderful Rosa Maria Sardá. For 30 years, Anita (Sardá) has worked as a cashier at an old movie house; now, new owners have decided to knock it down and turn it into a multiplex. Out of a job and terrified of her future, Anita finds herself drawn each day to her former workplace, now a construction site, until one day she spies Antoni (Jose Coronado), a handsome young bulldozer driver. Through Antoni, Anita will discover that indeed there can be life after the movies. Pons finds just the right pitch for the film, allowing us to laugh along with Anita at her discovery of sides to her personality she scarcely knew existed while reminding us of the hint of desperation that's always with her. Sun Dec 9: 5:30; Fri Dec 14: 2 & 6 27 HOURS / 27 HORAS Montxo Armendáriz, 1986, Spain; 84m For his second feature, Armendariz seemingly moved as far away from the mist-shrouded hills of TASIO as possible; set in the Basque port city of Donostia (San Sebastián), 27 HOURS traces a day in the life of Jon, a late teen wrapped up in petty thievery, hanging out with friends, and taking drugs. Yet this day, in certain ways so typical for Jon and his friends, seems to pose a challenge: can there be any kind of future made up of days like this? A great director of actors, Armendáriz elicits wonderfully unforced, naturalistic performances from his young cast, which includes a very young Maribel Verdú; instinctually, he knows how to capture their rhythms and gestures, refusing to turn them into symbols or mere subjects for analysis. Winner of the Grand Prize at the 1986 San Sebastian Film Festival, 27 HOURS proved to be a great box- office hit as well. Mon Dec 10: 3 & 9:30 PLÁCIDO Luis G. Berlanga, 1961, Spain; 85m Berlanga's first collaboration with scriptwriter Rafael Azcona, PLÁCIDO is a jet-black comedy that was originally entitled Seat a Poor Person at Your Dinner Table before the film ran afoul of the censors. Plácido González, played by the great Catalan comedian Cassen, uses his tricycle to deliver fruit baskets for a local charity while trying to figure out how he can come up with the money he owes before his tricycle gets repossessed. A bevy of local society women decides to take in beggars and other unfortunates, although they soon discover more about the objects of their charity than they'd rather know. Berlanga takes aim at the false piety on display, as acts of generosity are revealed to be little more than events on a social calendar. There are many hilarious situations and unexpected reversals, yet all the laughter can't cover up the strong sense of outrage that courses through the film. Wed Dec 12: 2:45; Thurs Dec 13: 1 & 9:15 VISIONARIES / VISIONARIOS Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, 2001, Spain; 109m In the early 1930s, in the rural Basque country, there are reports of appearances by the Virgin. The "visionaries" recount that the Virgin warns of an impeding disaster that will cause suffering throughout Spain. For the Republican government, these people are little more than deluded, preying on people's fears at a time of unrest and uncertainty; for the Right, their words are a divine signal that the Republic is leading Spain to ruin. Basing his screenplay on real events, Gutiérrez Aragón skillfully details how this battle over the meaning of this seemingly unprompted outbreak of heavenly apparitions becomes an early skirmish between the forces that will eventually lead Spain into civil war. The excellent cast includes Eduardo Noriega, Ingrid Rubio, Emma Suárez and Fernando Fernán Gómez. Sat Dec 15: 5 & 9:30 LUNA'S GAME / EL JUEGO DE LUNA Mónica Laguna, 2001, Spain; 96m The daughter of a gambler, Luna (Ana Torrent) has frequented smoky, clandestine gaming houses since she was a child. Now in her thirties, she pursues the only life she knows: that of a professional gambler, a world overwhelmingly dominated by men. Luna's looking for a big win that will allow her to settle some old debts. Throughout the film, director Mónica Laguna effectively shows how the very physical presence of Luna opens up and challenges these very "male" spaces. There's a clear sense of both the pleasure and danger that define her world, as she comes to learn that each victory comes with a price. Tue Dec 18: 1 & 9; Sat Dec 22: 2:15 THE EXECUTIONER / EL VERDUGO Luis G. Berlanga, 1963, Spain; 87m After years of doing little but collecting a state salary, the local executioner (beautifully played by Pepe Isbert, a great Spanish comic) is heading towards retirement. But there are two unfinished bits of business: who will marry his daughter, and who will replace him. The solution to both comes in the form of an undertaker, Jose Luis (Italian actor Nino Manfredi), who weds the executioner's daughter and takes over his father-in-law's duties and state salary. But suddenly the executioner's job becomes terrifyingly real, as the authorities call him into service. Few can tread that thin line between dark comedy and tragedy more skillfully than director Berlanga and screenwriter Azcona, and their work together in THE EXECUTIONER is superlative. Inspired by a number of brutal executions carried out by the Francoist government, and winner of numerous international awards, THE EXECUTIONER is a powerful reminder of the high costs of institutionalized violence. Wed Dec 19: 1, 5 & 9 THE NATIONAL SHOTGUN / LA ESCOPETA NACIONAL Luis G. Berlanga, 1978, Spain; 95m For his first film of the post-Franco era, Berlanga - again working with screenwriter Rafael Azcona - devised this wicked satire of the ruling classes said to have been based partially on real incidents. Jaume, an unctuous Catalan businessman, is invited to the estate of the aging Marquis de Leguineche, who Jaume believes can grease the wheels for some government deals. The hunting party consists of movie stars, military men, members of the influential Catholic group Opus Dei, and assorted other hangers-on in the halls of power. Quickly, Jaume learns to manipulate their petty jealousies and revenge plots to his own advantage, while struggling to survive the weekend and go home. SHOTGUN became a great audience favorite, as Spaniards delighted in trying to determine the actual people to whom Berlanga's characters corresponded; it also inspired several sequels that would keep Berlanga busy well into the 1980s. Wed Dec 19: 3 7

sound of the sea /son de mar secrets of the heart / secretos del corazón

LETTERS FROM ALOU / LAS CARTAS DE ALOU Montxo Armendáriz, 1990, Spain; 100m From its first wave-drenched scene, LETTERS thrusts the audience into the intense but circumscribed world of immigrants infiltrating Europe's shores. The film is the story of Alou, a transplanted Senegalese, through one misadventure after another as he travels through Spain in search of a job and a future. Armendáriz spent over three months living together with Arab and African immigrants in preparation for the film, and it shows; as always he is more interested in capturing the flavor and nuances of the world as lived by a particular group than in delivering a political message. Yet as a result we have a much deeper and richer sense of these budding communities, filled with their joys as well as their suffering. Mulie Jarjue as Alou gives a powerful, winning performance, and his letters home, heard on the soundtrack, reveal a wonderfully resilient and optimistic spirit. Thurs Dec 20: 1, 5 & 9 KRONEN / HISTORIAS DEL KRONEN Montxo Armendáriz, 1995, Spain; 95m Adapted from a best-selling novel by José Angel Mañas, this Spanish box-office sensation focuses on a group of aimless young people whose lives revolve around evenings spent at the "Kronen Bar." To fill their time, they challenge each other to ludicrous feats of daring, upping the ante each night. Once again, Armendáriz is far more interested in observing and understanding this self-contained community than he is in scoring social or satiric points. Surely, these present-day Madrid GenXers live far too hard and too fast, but Armendáriz finds more opportunity for redemption in his characters' lives, and though his lost boys and girls are caught up in a storm of temptation and self-destructiveness, Armendáriz's calm, compassionate and ultimately moral gaze never wavers. Juan Diego Botto, in the central role of Carlos, became one of Spain's most popular young actors after his success in KRONEN. Thurs Dec 20: 3 & 7 MASTERPIECE / OBRA MAESTRA David Trueba, 2001, Spain; 115m Benito and Carolo, two film fanatics - played by Spanish comics Santiago Segura and Pablo Carbonell - are made to finish the 8mm musical extravaganza they've been planning for years. Only one problem: they don't have the female lead. No problem: they devise a plot to kidnap the slightly tattered movie star Amanda (Adriana Gil), then ingeniously figure out ways to film her while she's being kept prisoner. For his first film since his much acclaimed debut La Buena Vida, David Trueba has made riotous dark comedy that consistently seems headed towards tragedy but never quite arrives. The movie star pretty quickly figures out her captors aren't all there, and so she decides to play along with them...but is she just playing? A provocative fable for our movie-mad times. Fri Dec 21: 12 noon & 6:30; Sun Dec 23: 9 PAUL AND HIS BROTHER / PAU I EL SEU GERMÀ Marc Recha, 2001, Spain; 110m After his critically acclaimed second film, The Cherry Tree, a great hit in the 1999 edition of Spanish Cinema Now, Catalan director Marc Recha has made a delicate, revealing work about the effect of a young man's death on his brother and mother. Learning that his brother Alex - who had disappeared long ago - has died in a car crash, Pau travels with his mother to the tiny village where the deceased had spent his last years. There, they meet his workmates, landlord and girlfriend, and get to know something about the world he had created for himself so far away, prompting them to look more closely at their own lives. As he showed previously in The Cherry Tree, Recha is a splendid director of actors, as he guides his expertly drawn cast of characters through encounters that allow us to understand their various transformations. An Official Selection at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Fri Dec 21: 2:15; Sat Dec 22: 6:45; Mon Dec 24: 3:30 SOUND OF THE SEA / SON DE MAR Bigas Luna, 2001, Spain; 99m Bigas Luna's latest film begins as Ulises (Jordi Molla) arrives in a small coastal town to take up a position at the local high school as a literature teacher. There he meets and falls in love with Martina (Leonor Watling); the two settle down to what they hope will be a long peaceful life together, despite Martina's having caught the attention of Sierra, a local construction magnate with shady connections. One morning, Ulises takes a small boat out fishing and disappears; some time later, Martina marries Sierra, moving into a world of wealth and luxury. Once again, all seems settled, until Martina starts to receive some mysterious phone callS. . . . One of Spain's most respected directors, Bigas Luna crafts a sensuous thriller filled with soft Mediterranean light that masks the presence of dark forces circling around his characters. Fri Dec 21: 4:30; Sat Dec 22: 9; Sun Dec 23: 12 noon FAUST 5.0 Isidro Ortiz, Alex Ollé and Carlos Padrissa, 2001, Spain; 93 m Barcelona's extraordinary theater troupe, La Fura dels Baus--whose performance at the opening of 1992 Olympics was such a sensation--moves into the cinema with this decidely offbeat re-imagining of the Faust legend. Miguel Angel Solá, so impressive in last year's PLENILUNIO. plays Doctor Faust, a well-known doctor specializing in care to terminally ill patients. While attending a medical conference in another city, Faust meets up with Santos, a former patient who the doctor had given a few months to live eight years earlier. Santos takes the good doctor on a journey to places he never even suspected existed, a landscape that increasingly takes the shape of Faust's darkest fears. The constant, sometimes shocking shifts between levels of reality is expertly realized, as Faust struggles to discover how much of his ordeal at the hands of Santos is actually of his own making. A most impressive debut feature, and the introduction of an exciting new voice in Spanish cinema. Fri Dec 21: 8:50; Sat Dec 22: 4:15; Sun Dec 23: 6:30 SAVAGES / SALVAJES Carlos Molinero, 2001, Spain; 98m Berta (Marisa Paredes), a nurse, is forced to take in her two teenage nephews and teenage niece after the death of her sister. Somewhat at loose ends with her own life, Bertha hardly notices that her wards are heading into trouble: the boys Guillermo and Rudá join up with neo-Nazi skinheads, whereas the niece, Lucía, is involved with a drug-dealer. A chance meeting at her clinic with Eduardo (Imanol Arias), a police inspector, leads Berta into a welcome new romance, but soon Eduardo is asked to investigate a crime in which Guillermo and Rudá may have been involved. A most impressive first feature with a vibrant visual style, SAVAGES chronicles the breakdown of a society plagued by drug abuse, racism and violence as seen in the microcosm of a single-family unit. Two of Spain's finest actors, Paredes and Arias, bring a powerful, world-weary quality to their roles, as they try to carve out a space for some happiness together. Sat Dec 22: 12 noon; Sun Dec 23: 4:30 Mon Dec 24: 1, 5:45 & 7:45 WORK IN PROGRESS / EN CONSTRUCCIÓN José Luis Guerin, 2001, Spain; 125m José Luis Guerin is one of the rare experimental filmmakers who makes long-format works that draw considerable audiences both in Spain and abroad, has made a delightful visual essay on the transformation of Barcelona's "Barrio Chino," that was awarded the International Critics' Prize at this year's San Sebastian Film Festival. Long known for its dimly-lit cabarets, colorful characters and narrow back alleys the "Barrio Chino" - so named because it was near that docks from which Barcelona's Far East trade would embark - began to fall victim to the changes that swept Barcelona before and after their successful hosting of the 1992 Olympics. Weaving together short sequences of the inhabitants, construction workers and visitors with historical footage and insightful looks at the area's distinctive architecture, Guerin takes us on a journey to one of Spain's most legendary - and fast disappearing - waterfront haunts. Sun Dec 23: 2; Wed Dec 26: 3 & 7:30 SECRETS OF THE HEART / SECRETOS DEL CORAZÓN Montxo Armendáriz, 1997, Spain; 105m Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and a great hit at the 1998 ND/NF, SECRETS OF THE HEART has been Armendáriz's greatest international success thus far. Nine-year-old Javi goes off to spend a vacation at his family's country house in northern Spain; there, he becomes fascinated by a locked room from which he comes to believe one can hear the voices of the dead. The truth of that room will be but one of the many secrets that will unravel for Javi during that vacation, as he discovers that growing up means learning to accept how mysterious so much of the world really is. A delicate, subtle work, with an astonishingly assured central performance by Andoni Erburu as Javi, SECRETS captures the terrors and pleasures of childhood's end while creating a vivid, revealing portrait of the waning years of the Franco era. Wed Dec 26: 1 & 5:30; Thurs Dec 27: 1, 5:15 & 9:30 about the series | film descriptions and times