Spring is in the air

Glasgow is buzzing with Spanish culture! The Viva! Spanish ands Latin American Film Festival on tour has just played to packed houses at the GFT, and Juan Antonio Bayona’s haunting ghost story El Orfanato is a box office smash. It has now made more than £2 million in the UK, making it the most successful Spanish film since Almodovar’s Volver. You can check out the trailer on You Tube. "click here"

Produced by Guillermo de Toro of Pan’s Labyrinth fame, this is Bayona’s directorial debut, a superbly creepy tale of an orphanage haunted by ghosts, and relics of Spain’s past from the Civil War. Another haunting echo from the past is the presence of Geraldine Chaplin, the iconic star of Spain’s greatest ghost story, Carlos Saura’s Cria Cuervos, playing a medium. A massive box office hit in Spain,the film’s appeal is obviously more than just local Who knows, at this rate it could even surpass the box office of Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth!

The resurgence of Spanish horror continues  with the release of rising genre director Jaume Balguero’s (Rec).  There is a rich tradition of Spanish horror films from the 70s, including such classics as Narciso Ibanez Serrador’s Quien Puede Matat a un Nino? and Claudio Guerin ‘s La Campana del Infierno, not to mention the infamous Jess Franco.

Balaguero has been attracting a lot of attention on the festival circuit with his shorts and features, and {REC}, his post modern take on Spanish horror, is going to bring him to the attention of the mainstream. Named after the recording function on a video camera, it takes ther form of a mock reality show tribute to Barcelona’s firefighters. When they are called out to new apartment block, they find some very strange goings on, involving zombie action. A clever parody of society and the media ensues, which might not appeal to Carlos Saura fans (there’s a lot of gore). This one’s definitely not for the squeamish though: see it if you dare!

Glasgow’s contemporary art festival, the GI

(Glasgow International) has just celebrated it’s third, biggest and best year, and the last under the directorship of Francis McKee. The festival exists to provide a focus for the best contemporary work from Glasgow’s thriving art scene, and bring top international artists’ work to Glasgow.

The Centro Espanol Lorca was proud to participate this year, with an exhibition of drawings by Maria Doyle.These were representational works, collated from her impressions of Cuba on a recent, month-long visit. She travelled throughout the island, exploring situations she found herself in through her haunting drawings.