One of the greatest Spanish directors, celebrated by Ceau, Cinema! in Timisoara

Sep 13, 2024 | Episode 11

A retrospective of all four films by the great Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice can be seen in September and October at Victoria Cinema in Timisoara, as part of a series of screenings organized by the Ceau, Cinema! Festival in partnership with the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute.

The retrospective will begin on September 28 with the director’s latest film, the highly acclaimed “Close Your Eyes” (“Cerrar los ojos”, 2023), which meant for Victor Erice the return to directing after three decades, and will continue throughout October with his three classic films, “The Spirit of the Beehive” (“El espíritu de la colmena”, 1973),  “The South” (“El sur”, 1983) and “Dream of Light” (“El sol del membrillo”, 1992).

Tickets for the four screenings are available on the Ceau, Cinema! website and on the Victoria Cinema website. Each film will be preceded by a short introduction from the festival team. 

“After the retrospective dedicated to post-war Italian cinema, organized before the festival, and the series of heritage films included in the program of the 11th edition in July, we continue to offer the public the chance to see classic European films at the cinema, in restored versions. Added to this is our desire to bring important recent films to Timisoara for the first time, which are not part of the distribution circuit. We thank the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute for their support in organizing this retrospective through which we celebrate one of the most appreciated European directors, Victor Erice”, says the Ceau, Cinema! team.

Born in 1940, Victor Erice is the author of a contemplative cinema, aesthetically ambitious, but without being precious. His favorite themes are the universe of childhood and cinema as a parallel world, magical, but as real as reality itself.

In “Close Your Eyes”, a famous Spanish actor disappears during filming. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he was the victim of an accident at sea. Many years later, the mystery surrounding the disappearance is brought back into the spotlight by a TV show that presents his life and death and shows exclusive images of the last scenes he filmed, shot by his dear friend, the director of the film. “Close Your Eyes” had its world premiere in 2023 in the Cannes Premiere section of Cannes Film Festival and received 11 nominations at the Goya Awards in Spain.

The story of “The Spirit of the Beehive” takes place in 1940, when, after seeing and being traumatized by the movie “Frankenstein”, a sensitive seven-year-old girl who lives in a Spanish village, slips into her own fantasy world. The film is a charming portrait of a child’s haunted inner life. “The Spirit of the Beehive” won the grand prize, the Golden Shell, at San Sebastian, the most important film festival in Spain.

In “The South”, a woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, trying to understand the depth of his despair and the truth of his myths. After being part of the competition of the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the grand prize at the Chicago Film Festival.

The “Dream of Light” follows the artist Antonio Lopez, who is trying to paint the quince he planted some time ago in his garden. Throughout his life, he worked on the same theme many times, almost as if it were a physical necessity. Every year, with the arrival of autumn, this need reappears. The film won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize in Cannes and the Grand Prize in Chicago and was also part of the selections of the Locarno and New York festivals.

Ceau, Cinema! is a festival dedicated to European film, organized by the Pelicula Culturala Association.

Co-organizers of the retrospective: Embassy of Spain, Cervantes Institute.

The project is part of the national cultural program “Timisoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is financed through the Legacy Timisoara 2023 program, carried out by the Project Center of the Municipality of Timisoara, with amounts allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.

Partner: Victoria Cinema.

Sponsors: Groupama Asigurari, Vitas Romania.