EDINBURGH SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL: OUR TOP RECOMMENDATIONS

By Kevin Fullerton

9 October 2024

There are rich pickings in this 11th edition of Scotland’s celebration of Spanish cinema old and new. 

We’re slap-bang in the middle of the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival (until Saturday 26 October), the city’s long-standing showcase of Spanish celluloid which is celebrating its 11th edition with screenings in the capital and visiting cinemas in Tranent, Stirling, Inverness and Glasgow. There’s still plenty to catch as ESFF rolls into its second week, from scathing satires of the wealthy to heart-warming depictions of the immigrant experience. Here are a few of our top picks.  

The Quiet Maid

The Quiet Maid bears the dubious honour of being the first film to be funded entirely from NFTs, but don’t let that put you off; its darkly comic account of a discreet maid cleaning a mansion for the wealthy art dealers of Costa Brava has also been honoured by the Andrews/Bernard Award, decided and funded by Steven Soderbergh. Like Triangle Of Sadnessor Saltburn, it’s another chance for audiences to see the ruling classes skewered. 

MacRoberts Arts Centre, Stirling, Thursday 10 October, 7.45pm; Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday 11 October, 6pm; Odeon Lothian Road, Edinburgh, Saturday 12 October, 6pm.

Chinas, A Second Generation Story 

Reflecting the diverse migrant population of Spain, Chinas, A Second Generation Story follows three children as they become aware of their place in the immigrant experience. The fundamental innocence of childhood is used here to ask difficult questions without the heavy baggage of adult life to weigh them down. Yet a universal predicament is the engine driving this story forward; how do we fit into society without shedding what makes us unique?

Odeon Lothian Road, Edinburgh, Sunday 13 October, 3.30pm.

Birth 

Set in 1982, this social realist drama from Pau Teixidor centres on Lucía, a 16-year-old girl who is sent to a centre for pregnant teenagers in Madrid. While mainly a penetrating story of the bonds formed from trauma, Birth’s period setting also delves into an era where Catholicism and the new wave of celebrity merged in the teenage consciousness. Expect a deft balance between light and dark. 

Odeon Lothian Road, Edinburgh, Sunday 13 October, 6pm.

I’m Nevenka 

Political corruption lies at the fore of this stark drama based on real-life events. Acting as a forerunner of #MeToo, 24-year-old Nevenka Fernández, the Finance Councillor of Ponferrada Town Council, is being mercilessly stalked by the town’s mayor. When she goes public with the harassment, her professional and personal life is plunged into disarray. Despite its Y2K setting, there’s an unsettling prescience to Fernández’s experiences that resonates today. 

Vue Omni Centre, Edinburgh, Friday 25 October, 7pm & Saturday 26 October, 6pm.

Available at: https://list.co.uk/news/45853/edinburgh-spanish-film-festival-our-top-recommendations