School of American and Global Studies World Languages and Cultures Film Festival:
A variety of films from many different countries
in their own languages
Click the dates and titles below for more information
![PARALLEL MOTHERS movie poster](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/PARALLEL_MOTHERS.jpg?itok=JLhm9p_1)
[PEDRO ALMODÓVAR / SPAIN / 2021 / 123 MIN]
SDSU Campus, Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center
- 4 p.m. La Petite Crêpe food truck
- 5:30 pm film screening
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Spanish with English subtitles
With Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano
Starring PeneÌlope Cruz in what could be the best performance of her career, Pedro Almodóvar’s "Parallel Mothers" is an unabashed story of cascading twists and turns, thickening complications and high family drama.
The film follows two mothers who meet at the hospital ward during their pregnancy, and whose lives become intertwined from then on. Janis (Penélope Cruz), middle-aged, doesn’t regret her accidental pregnancy and she is exultant. The other, Ana (Milena Smit), an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in those hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and becomes complicated, changing their lives in a decisive way.
In one of his best films to date, Almodóvar revisits the legacy of his country’s political violence during the Spanish Civil War to provide a broader and richer perspective on the exploration of one’s ancestry.
![MEMORIES OF MY FATHER movie poster](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/MEMORIES_OF_MY_FATHER.jpg?itok=qDqfeCjh)
[FERNANDO TRUEBA / COLOMBIA / 2022 / 136 MIN]
SDSU Campus, Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center
- 5:30 p.m. film screening
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Spanish with English subtitles
With Javier CaÌmara, NicolaÌs Reyes Cano, Juan Pablo Urrego
Based on the legendary book "Oblivion: A Memoir" by the Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, and directed by Academy à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã® winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle EÌpoque), the film tells of the life of the prominent doctor and human rights activist, HeÌctor Abad GoÌmez (Javier CaÌmara), a father who is concerned about both his children and children from less favored classes.
After a devastating loss in the family, HeÌctor gives himself to the greater cause of public health programs for the poor in MedelliÌn to the consternation of the city’s authorities. The film straddles two eras: Faciolince’s adolescence in MedellÃn in the 1970s, and his young adulthood in the ’80s up until 1987 when his father was assassinated.
![THIS STOLEN COUNTRY OF MINE movie poster](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/THIS_STOLEN_COUNTRY_OF_MINE.jpg?itok=ceCYsrQv)
[MARC WIESE / GERMANY / 2022 / 93 MIN]
SDSU Campus, Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center
- 4 p.m. El Charrito food truck
- 5:30 p.m. film screening
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Spanish with English subtitles
With Paúl JarrÃn Mosquera, Fernando Villavicencio
Chinese mining in Ecuador’s mountains sets the stage for an epic battle between eco-guerrillas and a corrupt government in an intensely dramatic documentary.
"This Stolen Country of Mine" follows Paúl JarrÃn Mosquera, who leads the indigenous resistance against the exploitation of their land. Meanwhile, China uses the Ecuadorian government to turn the country into one of its new colonies, having made the country dependent on credit through a series of corrupt and greedy treaties. When journalist Fernando Villavicencio exposes these plots and gets access to the contracts between China and Ecuador, the government wants him silenced too. Both men are fighting for freedom in this battle against a superpower.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Marc Wiese, the film exposes China’s massive hunger for natural resources and how during the last decade it has been aggressively operating to obtain access to these resources in Ecuador. The country is now stuck with the most Chinese debts in Latin America.
![THE GOOD BOSS movie poster](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/THE%20GOOD%20BOSS.jpg?itok=JWYjLdqr)
[FERNANDO LEÓN DE ARANOA / SPAIN / 2021 / 116 MIN]
The State Theater, Downtown Sioux Falls
- 6 p.m. Doors open for a complimentary drink and popcorn
- 6:30 film screening
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Spanish with English subtitles
With Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, Almudena Amor, Óscar de la Fuente
A smash hit in Spain starring Academy à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã® winner Javier Bardem, "The Good Boss" is an acerbic character study and a darkly funny social satire of the workplace.
Blanco, the charismatic owner of a family-run factory, is under pressure as he covets a local award for business excellence. Everything needs to be perfect! But the veneer of the perfect company cracks as Blanco has to deal with a vengeful fired worker, a depressed supervisor and an infatuated ambitious intern. To win the competition, the manipulative “good boss†shamelessly meddles in his employees’ private lives and crosses every line imaginable, unknowingly starting an explosive chain reaction with wild consequences.
![CARAJITA movie poster](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/CARAJITA.jpg?itok=l75FQ3c5)
[SILVINA SCHNICER, ULISES PORRA / ARGENTINA / 2021 / 89 MIN]
SDSU Campus, Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center
- 5:30 p.m. film screening
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Spanish with English subtitles
With Cecile Van Welie, Magnolia Núñez, Adelanny Padilla
Featuring striking cinematography and outstanding performances, "Carajita" (which means annoying child) explores the tenuous relationship that exists between race, class and family.
Sarah, the pampered daughter of a corrupt oligarch whose family recently relocated to Las Terrenas, thinks of her Black Dominican nanny, Yarisa, as “part of the family.†The two have a “mother-daughter-like†relationship that transcends their social standing. That illusion is put to the test when Yarisa’s spirited daughter Mallory goes missing, challenging Sarah’s naïve beliefs.
Boasting intuitive storytelling and confident direction, "Carajita" plays like a psychological thriller, deriving oppressive tension from unspoken inequalities and the impunity of privilege.
The Spanish Film Club Series was made possible with the support of Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.
![Spain arts & culture logo](/sites/default/files/styles/profile/public/2023-08/spainartsculture.jpg?itok=vrVU_K4F)
![V / Centenario 1a vuelta al mundo logo](/sites/default/files/styles/profile/public/2023-08/V-Centenario.png?itok=GmxUbF1H)
![Secretaria de Estado logo](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/Secretaria_de_Estado.jpg?itok=7dWpjREX)
![PRAGDA Raising the voice of LATIN cinema logo](/sites/default/files/styles/wallet_size_scale_325_width_/public/2023-08/PRAGDA_logo_tagline.jpg?itok=lCeRANAY)