Instituto Cervantes gives tribute to Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel

Manila, Philippines -  Instituto Cervantes de Manila and the Mexican Embassy in the Philippines pay tribute to the achievements of Spanish director Luis Buñuel by showcasing a retrospective of his cinematic creations every Saturday for the whole month of September.

Titled “Luis Buñuel in Mexico,” this special line-up explores the work of the film director, considered as one of the greatest of all time. Spanish-born Buñuel collaborated with Salvador Dali on his first film, Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) and dazzled ever since.  He fled to the US during the Spanish Civil War and moved to Mexico in the late ’40s where he lived and worked until his death in 1983.

All screenings (in Spanish with English subtitles) will be held at Instituto Cervantes’ Salón de Actos every Saturday at 2 p.m.

The film cycle opens on Sept. 1 with Nazarin, a humanistic study of the failure of Catholicism that went on to win the Grand Prix International at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. The movie follows the story of a priest attempting to live a pure and honest life strictly according to Christian principles. But he discovers that most of the peasants are incapable of understanding him and the Church itself is appalled by this true Christian.

Screening on Sept. 8 is the 1951 drama film, La hija del engaño (Daughter of Deceit). This movie is about a father who abandons his daughter after his adulterous wife spitefully informs him that their daughter is not his.

Showing on Sept. 22, is Buñuel’s visually intoxicating creation La ilusión viaja en tranvía (Illusion Travels by Streetcar). Incredibly photographed by Raúl Martínez Solares, this movie is a series of hallucinatory images, experienced by two senior citizens while taking their last ride on the Mexico City public transit system.

The film cycle concludes on Sept. 29 with El Gran Calavera (The Great Madcap). Unlike most of Buñuel’s films (drama and tragedy), The Great Madcap belongs to the genre of comedy which follows the story of a profligate rich man and his money-grubbing family.

 The film cycles are organized by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with the Mexican Embassy, the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, and Spanish Agency International Cooperation for Development (AECID). 

Admission to all the screenings is free on a first-come, first-served basis. For information, call 526-1482 or visit http://manila.cervantes.es. Instituto Cervantes de Manila is at 855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila.