La Singla

a film by Paloma Zapata

The fictional journalist Elena (Helena Kaittani) is looking for a trace of Antoñita Singla, a deaf bailaora famous in 1960s. According to Kaittani, her personage is based on the film’s director, Paloma Zapata. The investigation of Elena is much more believable than that of Jeff Harris in They Shot the Piano Player. But did La Singla really disappear only to be found by the film creators through, wait a minute, the car dealer Singlauto? I don’t think so. For example, a 2017 article mentions matter-of-factly that La Singla has retired from dancing but is very much alive.

Never mind that. The movie is gripping. At least it was for me. And, thanks to it, I discovered an amazing flamenco dancer.

Sur l’Adamant

a film by Nicolas Philibert

A heart-warming documentary portraying the daily lives of the inhabitants of L’Adamant, a floating mental health centre on the Seine in Paris.

L’Incroyable Histoire du facteur Cheval

a film by Nils Tavernier

L’Incroyable Histoire du facteur Cheval is, indeed, so incredible, and also so tragic, that it could only have been a true story. Starring Jacques Gamblin as postman Cheval, Laetitia Casta as Philomène and Zélie Rixhon as their daughter Alice. Get out your hankies.

Tren de sombras

a film by José Luis Guerín

A silent film that is never silent. What starts like an innocent amateur family footage from 1930 develops into something way more mysterious, even sinister. (Closer to the end, we’ll see a bit of a remake in colour.) There are connotations of Antonioni’s Blow-Up; long shots à la Tarkovsky bring almost unbearable tension. And the enigma remains unsolved. A 1997 masterpiece that I’ve never heard about.

Red-Headed Woman

a film by Jack Conway

Starring amazing Jean Harlow as the home-wrecking, gold-digging titular redhead, complete with a host of other stereotypes, this pre-Code comedy will make you laugh, cringe, or both at the same time.

Gagarine

a film by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh

Yuri (Alséni Bathily), together with his friends Diana (Lyna Khoudri) and Houssam (Jamil McCraven), are trying to save their home, Cité Gagarine, from demolition. A heartwarming debut feature by Liatard and Trouilh, also starring Finnegan Oldfield as Dali. Watch it.

A beautiful theme song, Ya Tara by Amine Bouhafa, is performed by Lena Chamamyan.

Madame X — Eine absolute Herrscherin

a film by Tabea Blumenschein and Ulrike Ottinger

There are only two user reviews of this absurdist comedy on IMDb: one reviewer gave Madame X nothing, another 10/10. I found the opening collection of Pythonesque sketches the most entertaining. At 147 minutes, however, it’s way too long and repetitive for the message. In the version screened at Filmoteca, the German dialogue was subtitled while the English one was not; no wonder some people have left half-way through. Then again, when it’s cold and wet outside, I can think of worse options than sitting in a warm cinema, wondering what a lesbian pirate ship’s weird crew will do next.

Safe in Hell

a film by William Wellman

An engaging pre-Code tragicomedy screened as a part of the cycle Puntos de fuga.

Gilda (Dorothy Mackaill) arrives to a hotel run by Leonie (Nina Mae McKinney) and inhabited by a motley crew of international lowlifes. Quite an agreeable bunch, I say.