Spanish Film Festival

Few people can boast about having watched over 1000 Spanish films in just 11 years, but this precise achievement is Natalia Ortiz’s unusual claim to fame. As the founding director of Australia’s Spanish Film Festival, she’s spent over a decade jumping through Spanish cinemas on the lookout for that special “something.” Her years are now marked by the familiar build-up to another festival, by seasonal trawls through DVD previews, and annual trips to international film festivals in search of cinematic goodies. And every year she emerges with a wide-reaching selection of the best that Spain has to offer.

“It never gets dull,” she explains, in her rich Spanish accent. “The most interesting thing about putting the programme together is that you always have to consider the wide audience. On the one hand, you have your Australian audience. On the other, you have to think about the Spanish community, and not only the young Spanish community who are really up to date with what is happening in Spain, but also the older part of that community, who feel as if they don’t understand what’s happening in Spanish cinema these days. So I try to bring in some classical films for them. And for me that’s the exciting part; that the audience is really wide and we have kids who are 7 years old through to 70 year-olds, and we’re trying to reach all those people, and present all of them with fresh films every year.”

No where are these conflicting intentions better exemplified than in Ortiz’s choice to include a ‘spotlight’ on Spanish actress Maribel Verdu. An icon for Spaniards, Verdu has produced over 50 films of varying genres, so this showcase offers ex-patriots the chance to get a little nostalgic. Simultaneously, Verdu is on the verge of Hollywood success, so in a way this is Ortiz’s pre-emptive attempt to familiarise Australians with her image. “Normally people do tend to present these spotlights at the end of an actor or actress’s career, but I can see that she is going to be a huge star internationally. She’s shooting now a film with [Francis Ford] Coppola, so I thought it was about time for us to show off to Australia that we’ve got a ‘new’ actress coming up. And now she’s reachable like never before, so it’s the perfect time for us to share this icon that we grew up with, with the rest of the country.”

Such specific focuses are, however, not usually sufficient for drawing in a non-Spanish Australian crowd. So, this year, the festival’s promotional buzz has instead focused around its inclusion of a few high-budget horror films, sending hype to an all-time high. As Ortiz notes, however, Spain has long been infatuated with the genre, especially with thriller and horror. She snorts congenially at the idea of a horror film emerging from France, and thus reflects Spain’s long-standing cinematic identity as one of the only European countries not to shy away from genre.

“We’ve always been interested in thrillers and horrors in Spain, and this year it just coincides that the ones that have been released have been well received internationally. You’ve got films like [REC] and The Orphanage that are being viewed all over the world, so I think that’s what makes it seem different, as if we’re producing more. Maybe some people who have not been following Spanish cinema will assume that this is new for Spain, but in fact we’ve already had previous films from the director of [REC] in this festival. We have been producing these kinds of films from years.”

Despite some remaining misconception, it’s with an obvious pride that Ortiz describes her festival’s role in familiarising Australian cineastes with Spain’s own filmic traditions. She clearly associates cinema with a loose form of cultural education, adding, “At the beginning [11 years ago], the vast majority of the audience did not know much about Spanish cinema, but now you can see, from responses and questions, that they are getting a greater knowledge and understanding of the cinema. It’s a process.”

For Ortiz, though, that more educational function of the festival can only ever be a bonus. It’s obvious that her primary focus is instead on uncovering powerful stories that Australians might not otherwise see. When she’s watching movie after movie, Ortiz isn’t so much looking for a film that reflects contemporary Spain as she is for a film that is honest in its storytelling. “In the end, I just want honesty,” she stresses. “You can see, and the audience can feel it straight away too, if the film director is trying to hard to please someone and is not honest with the story. For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a big or small production, or from a film school in Madrid or Barcelona, I don’t mind where it comes from, so long as it’s honest and has that minimum quality.”

It’s this hunt that has increasingly lead Ortiz towards Spanish co-productions. “A lot of the most fascinating films in Spanish cinema are emerging from this co-operation with not only Latin America, but also places like Morocco and European countries. It makes sense, I mean, at the moment people are moving all over the world, so to limit your people’s stories to particular places and cities would be very restrictive and very unrealistic. In fact, I think the richness of what is happening at the moment comes from the fact that we’re living all over the world yet we all enjoy the same sort of stories. Making films with other people and telling trans-national stories is the richness of our current reality. For me, not only in terms of finance, but also in terms of storytelling, the future is co-production.”

And it’s also this search that often draws Ortiz towards debut directors, with almost half of 2008’s programme coming directly from first-timers. With a laugh, Ortiz admits that she’s gotten pretty at good at intercepting talent over these past 11 years. “What’s really great is we’re now starting to see the first or second film released from directors whose short films we screened years ago. So I look at that and say ‘Oh I was not so wrong there!’ and it’s very satisfying, of course.”


Director’s Picks:
Spanish festival director Natalia Ortiz chooses her favourites.

1. Seven Billiard Tables :: Screening as part of the spotlight on Maribel Verdu, Seven Billiard Tables is the tale of Angela (Verdu)’s attempts to restart the local billiard hall her recently-deceased father left behind.
2. The Orphanage :: In this top-earning horror film, a young boy befriends some disconcerting playmates when his family moves into an abandoned orphanage. From first-time director Juan Antonio and producer Geillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth).
3. Scandalous :: This comedy/musical charts the disgruntled Luis’s attempts to understand the women in his life (wife, daughter and grand-daughter), after each of them abandons him within a single day.
4. Desperate Women :: Another comedy about hunting lost lovers, Desperate Women sees two ladies madly chasing after their dream man and son, who had previously been thought dead. This film’s appearance in the festival marks its world premier.
5. Under the Stars :: In his first feature film, Félix Viscarret presents a mediocre trumpet player whose life is complicated after his father’s death throws him into a whole new reality. It’s a warm drama, with an edgy quirkiness.