Spanish cinema contains some of the most eerie, beautiful, and passionate offerings in film history, for the most part criminally underseen by mainstream American audiences, aside from the great Pedro Almodóvar. Víctor Erice should be known on par with Almodóvar, having directed Spirit of the Beehive, a lyrical 1973 reflection on the Franco era through a child’s eyes, which launched the career of Ana Torrent, the magnetic actor who went on to star in surrealist master Carlos Saura’s Cría Cuervos, and in adulthood, Alejandro Amenábar’s terrifying Thesis. Close Your Eyes sees Torrent star in Erice’s swan song, released just last year, which aptly follows an aging filmmaker recounting the memories of his final, unfinished project. – Lina Fisher
Sept. 23 & 29
