This year the Pula Film Festival introduces the European Film Directors cycle. The first retrospective of the cycle is dedicated to a famed Spanish filmmaker, Oscar- winner Pedro Almodóvar. As part of the retrospective, organized in cooperation with the Spanish Embassy in Zagreb, 10 films from Almodóvar's early and middle phases, marked by comedies and melodramas respectively, shall be presented.

The films to be screened are the following: Labyrinth of Passions (1982.), Dark Habits (1983) What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984), Matador (1986), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), Kika (1993), Flower of My Secret (1995), Live Flesh (1997) and All About My Mother (1999).

The retrospective of films by Pedro Almodóvar shall be presented twice - during the festival foreplay, from July 11th to 17th, and during the main programme, from July 16th to 25th.



Today one of the most esteemed and popular European filmmakers (born in 1949 in the Spanish town of Calzada de Calatrava), Pedro Almodóvar worked a number of odd jobs in the early seventies - he was engaged in rock bands and avant-garde theatre companies, wrote texts for comic books and shot short amateur films. However, it were these experiences that shaped his first feature-length films and left a permanent mark on his body of work that was to shake the worldview of post-Franco Spain and change the reception of Spain in the world.

The eighties, with the exception of Matador, were the years of comedies for Almodóvar. After the feature-length debut Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap (1980), Almodóvar shot Labyrinth of Passions, a completely unconventional and original screwball comedy with characters from the margins of the society and persons searching for their sexual identity so characteristic of the director. The films Dark Habits, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Matador, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! have been selected for this cycle that will open with the Labyrinth of Passions.


In the nineties, Almodóvar turned to melodrama. His most successful films from this period are Kika, Flower of My Secret and Live Flesh. Almost the entire work of Almodóvar is dedicated to strong female characters (with the exception of Bad Education, his most personal film) and search for love. The peak of his middle phase is the melodrama All About My Mother, a film that encompasses all his previous themes and closes the retrospective.

Labyrinth of Passion (Laberinto de pasiones)

 

Spain, 1982, 1h40, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, Terry Lennox; starring: Cecilia Roth, Imanol Arias, Helga Liné, Antonio Banderas, Marta Fernández Muro, Fernando Vivanco, Ofelia Angélica, Fanny McNamara

 

A twisted romantic comedy in which several lines of a story about erotic, incestuous and other passions of bizarre characters with volatile sexual orientations intertwine… The film centres on Sexilia, a nymphomaniac punk-star, and Riza Niro, a wild-living gay prince of Tiran, followed closely by Islamic terrorist Sadec but also by Toraya, a former princess of Tiran…

 

Dark Habits (Entre tinieblas)

 

Spain, 1983, 1h54, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, starring: Cristina Sánchez Pascual, Will More, Laura Cepeda, Miguel Zúñiga, Julieta Serrano, Marisa Paredes, Mari Carillo, Chus Lampreave, Carmen Maura

 

A black comedy centred on Yolanda, a singer in a night bar, who finds refuge in a convent after her boyfriend overdoses. Hiding from the police, she spends her time with unusual nuns: one of them writes romantic novels under a pseudonym, the other one has a tiger for a pet, the third one is a self-denying designer in love with a local priest, and the hypochondriac mother superior falls in love with Yolanda.

 

 

What Have I Done to Deserve This? (Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto)

 

Spain, 1984, 1h41, written by: Pedro Almodóvar after the Roald Dahl's atory Lamb to the Slaughter, starring: Carmen Maura, Luis Hostalot, Ryo Hiruma, Angel de Andres-Lopez, Gonzalo Suarez, Verónica Forqué, Chus Lampreave, Juan Martinez

 

A comedy of absurd centred on an anarchic working-class family: mother Gloria – a cleaning lady addicted to pills, father Antonio – a taxi driver in love with a German singer, two minor sons who earn for a living by selling heroin (the older one) and by prostitution (the younger one), a stingy grandmother and her pet – a lizard… 

 

Matador

 

Spain, 1986, 1h50, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, Jesús Ferrero, starring: Assumpta Serna, Antonio Banderas, Nacho Martínez, Eva Cobo, Eusebio Poncela, Julieta Serrano, Chus Lampreave, Carmen Maura

 

A thriller about former bullfighter Diego, obsessed with death and violence, who becomes a teacher to young aspirants of bullfighting after suffering an injury. Among them there is young Angel who lives with a repressive catholic mother and who is trying to prove he is capable of murder…

 

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios)

 

Spain, 1988, 1h30, written by: Pedro Almodóvar after Jean Cocteau's drama Humman Voicee (La voix humaine), starring: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Rossy de Palma, Kiti Manver, Fernando Guillén

 

In this repeatedly awarded farce that received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film actress Pepa is trying to track down her ex-lover Ivan, tell him she’s pregnant and rent out their mutual flat. Finally she manages to convince herself and her nervous rivals that none of them need Ivan.

 

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Átame!)

 

Spain, 1990, 1h51, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, Yuyi Beringola, starring: Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles León, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Rossy de Palma, Francisco Rabal

 

A crime comedy that screened in the competition of the 1990 Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for a Cesar Award  for best foreign language film centres on Ricky, a recently released psychiatric patient, who goes to see porn-star Marina and tries to convince her to become his wife but when she starts to hesitate, Ricky ties her up…

 

Kika

 

Spain, France, 1993, 1h54, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, starring: Verónica Forqué, Peter Coyote, Victoria Abril, Àlex Casanovas, Rossy de Palma, Santiago Lajusticia, Anabel Alonso, Bibi Andersen

 

A comedy about make-up artist Kika who lives with her boyfriend Ramon and is having an affair with his stepfather Nicholas. When she gets a job at a local TV station, she is forced to work with Ramon’s lover, psychotic presenter Andrea…

 

The Flower of My Secret / La flor de mi secreto

 

Spain, France, 1995, 1h43, written by: Pedro Almodóvar after short Dorothy Parker's story The lovely leave, starring: Marisa Paredes, Imanol Arias, Juan Echanove, Carmen Elias, Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave, Kiti Manver, Joaquín Cortés, Manuela Vargas

 

A melodrama centred on Leo Macias, a successful romance author, who publishes under the pseudonym Amanda Gris. Leo is not happy with her life because her husband, a high-ranking peacekeeping soldier, is never at home. Se will do everything to change him…

 

Live Flesh (Carne trémula)

 

France, Spain, 1997, 1h43, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Ray Loriga after Ruth Rendell's novel, starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina, José Sancho, Penélope Cruz, Pilar Bardem

A thriller centred on young man Victor, in love with drug addicted Elena, a daughter of a diplomat, who accidentally wounds policeman David while having an argument with her and ends up in prison. After serving the prison sentence, he learns that Elena has married David, now a famous Paralympic basketball player…

 

All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)

 

Spain, France, 1999, 1h41, written by: Pedro Almodóvar, starring: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz, Rosa Maria Sardà, Fernando Fernán Gómez

A melodrama that received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film tells a story of Manuela, a single mother who witnesses the death of her only son who dies running to get an autograph of a famous actress on his 17^th birthday. After the tragic event, Manuela wants to find the boy’s father, transvestite Lola, who doesn’t now he had a son…