Hola! It’s C&G’s Guide to the Spanish Film Festival!

Local Community

This year’s Spanish Film Festival hosted by Palace Cinemas runs from April 20 to May 7, and is jam packed with more comedy, drama, and romance than ever before. C&G has rounded up the festival highlights, to ensure you don’t miss any of the best bits.

Opening Night

Of Melbourne’s smorgasbord of film festivals (Spanish, Italian, French, MIFF, to name but a few), the opening and closing galas never disappoint. This year’s opening night film is Kiki: Love to Love, which took the Spanish box office by storm in 2016. A playful, provocative and cheeky tale of love and desire, Kiki: Love to Love follows five individual adventures of discovery and satisfaction. The opening gala at The Astor on Thursday April 20, comes complete with Freixenet cava on arrival, a premier screening and an after party with tapas and live entertainment. Note: this film is unsuitable for U18s.

Closing Night

You get more than once chance to celebrate the closing night, with 4 events across Palace Cinemas showcasing the film The Trip to Spain. The third instalment of The Trip series, The Trip to Spain reunites comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon for another hilarious travelogue, joking about parenthood and middle-aged life as they journey across some of the most stunning areas of Europe. Enjoy Torres Wines and Stella Artois as you laugh along to the closing film.

Song and Dance

For musical lovers, The Queen of Spain and Sara Baras: All Her Voices need to be on your hitlist. Enjoy Spanish tunes on arrival at selected screenings of both movies, and get in the spirit with Spanish wine and beer as you enjoy the musical talents of Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes (The Queen of Spain) and Sara Baras herself (Sara Baras: All Her Voices). The remarkable flamenco dancing, costume design and abundant culture will have you yearning for a European adventure in no time.

Best Short Film

The festival is delighted to be showcasing the acclaimed short film, Sleepover. A delicate story of family struggles and societal pressures on today’s youth, Sleepover follows Sylvia as she tries to have a ‘normal’ sleepover to save her friendships, despite the fact she and her family are living in an old VW Campervan. The film was nominated for Best Short Fiction at the 2017 Goya Awards, and will be screened before all showings of aspirational coming-of-age movie, Sasha.

For Kids

If you’ve got little ones with itchy feet now the school holidays are over, get them involved in European culture and language with kids’ movies at the festival. Ozzy follows a friendly Beagle’s journey to a canine spa when his owners go on a no-dogs-allowed holiday to Japan, while Zip and Zap return for another instalment of twinning antics. Zip & Zap and the Captain’s Island follows the terrible twosome as their Christmas holiday is cancelled, and they wind up on a boring boat trip with their parents. What they discover is a world they never knew existed. 

There’s so much more on offer at the Spanish Film Festival, so make sure you squeeze in an event when you can. View the full film program here