Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Londres

Storytelling and a fancy mask-making workshop joined together in a morning session in order to offer the little ones a few hours of magic and creativity in Spanish.

For the workshop we will be joined by Alberto San Andrés, founding member of Asociación Gozart, professional puppeteer and experienced in working with children. We will also be joined by professional storyteller Marta Marco Martialay, who has worked at festivals all over Spain.

For children between 5 and 8

Participants
Alberto San Andrés
Marta Marco Martialay

For inscription contact: cultlon1(at)cervantes.es. Approximate number of children: 30

21 – 27 January 2010. The Barbican Centre, London

From civil war and revolution in the Silent era, through the Golden Age of the 30s and 40s to the Nuevo Cine Mexicano, establishing global big-hitters Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros) Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light), Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone) to name a few, Mexican cinema continues to go from strength to strength.

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Hobby was conceived by director Ciro Altabas as a visual document to witness the release of the Nintendo Wii and the video-game culture in Japan. However, it slowly morphed into a showcase of some of the many ways in which the Japanese spend their leisure time. Watch this brilliant and very funny film over Christmas on RENDERYARD. http://www.dailymotion.com/renderyardchannel

EVER wondered why Spain remained neutral in the Second World War? After all, Hitler and Mussolini had given Franco ample support during the Spanish Civil War, and might have expected the Caudillo to return the favour by joining with the Axis powers.

But Franco declined to get involved, despite the Nazis’ best efforts to persuade him otherwise – and it’s just as well that he did.

“God knows what would have happened if the Axis powers had taken control of Spain,” the journalist and author Jimmy Burns told an audience at the Instituto Cervantes last month. “It would probably have changed the entire course of World War II.”

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The Sacred Made Real’ presents a landmark reappraisal of religious art from the Spanish Golden Age with works created to shock the senses and stir the soul.

Paintings, including masterpieces by Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán, are displayed for the very first time alongside Spain’s remarkable polychrome wooden sculptures.

View exhibition at the National Gallery

Moctezuma

This major exhibition explores Aztec (Mexica) civilisation through the divine, military and political role of the last elected ruler, Moctezuma II (reigned AD 1502–1520).

Rediscover the world of the Mexica and trace the foundation of modern Mexico.

The British Museum

We are delighted to present, once again, a selection of some of the best Spanish films from last year. The line-up includes Fesser’s controversial Camino, the big winner at the last Goya Awards and the last film directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, Sólo quiero caminar, a director who we know, and welcome back for his successful feature Alatriste. As usual, we’ve also paid special attention to films by emerging talents (Un novio para Yasmina, Myna se va, La noche que dejó de llover). Vampir cuadecuc, an avant-garde film made in 1970 by producer and experimental filmmaker Pere Portabella, also features exceptionally in the selection as this film was in fact first shown on Spanish screens in 2008.

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http://www.londonspanishfilmfestival.com/