Cultura

If there was one thing the Peruvian-Barcelona writer Santiago Roncagliolo (Lima, 1975) was clear about when, a few years ago, he began researching for the book El pastor y los lobos – which Seix Barral has just published – it was that the American priest Robert Francis Prevost did not go to the Peruvian town of Chulucanas in 1985 “to prosper, nor to be important within the Church, nor to live well.” The author of this very personal biography about the Pope, in which echoes of Carrère and Cercas resonate, intersperses painful episodes from his own life – such as the abuse he suffered from a priest at his school – others from the life of Saint Augustine, investigates the meaning of faith in today’s world, and makes revelations about Prevost’s relentless fight against mafias and abusers, even bringing to light some secrets of the conclave that chose Leo XIV as Francis’s successor.

The Film Academy announced this Thursday the three Spanish films that begin the race towards the Oscar. Los domingos, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa; El ser querido, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen; and La bola negra, by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, are the three preselected films for the major film awards given in Hollywood. Pedro Almodóvar, who released Amarga Navidad this year, has been left out.

There have been many occasions when Barcelona has debated whether to recognize the work and creativity of Salvador Dalí, either by dedicating a street or square to him, or some sculptural work. All have failed. The last time was in 2021. Political motivations aside, the long bureaucracy, the urban complexity of the city, and the prioritization of other criteria in the nomenclature have stopped it.

La Venice Film Festival aims to be a reflection of the major issues of contemporary times, whether war, censorship, or democratic crises. Under this premise, the festival selects those films that, as its artistic director, Alberto Barbera, points out, do not merely act as simple chronicles, but seek to challenge a world marked by conflicts, migrations, social tensions, or the consequences of climate change.

One of Barcelona’s most versatile actors, who for more than three decades has brought skill and expertise to the stages of theaters and the sets of film and television, has passed away. Francesc Garrido, sober and magnetic, died early Monday morning at the age of 56 due to a heart attack. His unexpected passing is mourned by the acting world both locally and nationally. His legacy continues on the big screen with titles such as Mar adentro, Te doy mis ojos, Alatriste, Smoking Room, El habitante incierto, El tiempo entre costuras… and the most recent El anfitrión, alongside Willem Dafoe, whom he accompanied on the red carpet of the Barcelona Film Festival held on Verdi Street.

Yayoi Kusama, who in her Japanese adolescence had to sew parachutes for the Imperial Army, landed in 1950s New York as an unidentified provocative object. Actually, she arrived in Seattle, but the veteran Georgia O’Keeffe, who kindly responded to her letters, wisely advised her to move to the Big Apple. There she did not go unnoticed, but she did not achieve great success. Among other things because, according to her, Andy Warhol stole a lot of her ideas.

These are the premieres coming to movie screens this August 26:

Highly anticipated second novels, such as those by Alana S. Portero, Eva Comas-Arnal, or Andrea Abreu; long-running literary sagas, like those offered by Dolores Redondo or Martín Caparrós; authors with a literary fixation like Jon Bilbao and the seafaring house that appears throughout almost his entire literary universe; works with a historical background, such as those by Aniol Florensa or Pere Antoni Pons, and even a debut, that of Cristina Genebat. This literary season comes loaded with highly anticipated readings and names that everyone marks on their calendar.

Dolly Parton, who went from a loving childhood though marked by poverty in the mountains of eastern Tennessee to becoming the queen of country music, a Hollywood star, and a beloved American icon, died this Tuesday, her family announced. She was 80 years old and had been in fragile health for months.

For weeks, some of Europe’s great rivers have been in the spotlight for revealing striking images of treasures hidden for decades. Shipwrecks, Nazi relics, and even mammoth bones. The drought that has been hitting the continent since spring and the prolonged lack of rain have severely affected the flow of Europe’s most important rivers such as the Loire, the Rhine, and the Danube, leaving them extremely dry.