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.
The magician Juan Tamariz has passed away at the age of 83, as confirmed by his daughter Ana in a message on social media. Tamariz, born on October 18, 1942, found success in the 1970s, when he was recognized in France, which led to greater success in Spain. His card tricks and illusions, his eccentric stage presence, his top hat, and his way of celebrating the audience’s surprise with the solemn notes of an imaginary violin (“naraniaronaniaro…”) resonated in a society that raised him as an icon.
The life of Eli Sharabi changed forever on October 7, 2023, when a Hamas commando stormed the Be’eri kibbutz and took him hostage to the nearby Gaza Strip, where he remained for 491 days hoping to reunite with his wife and daughters, unaware that they had been killed that very day. That traumatic experience is what he recounts in Rehén (Nagrela Editores), a testimony of his struggle for survival under inhuman conditions.
The best biographies are often the result of an obsession. And then there are those driven by a love of art, which adds a plus to any portrait of an artist. The writer Marta San Miguel (Santander, 1981), journalist and José Hierro Poetry Prize winner, has novelized the life of Enric Granados (1867-1916) alternating the not so well-known story of the composer from Lleida with a narrative that follows his footsteps from a contemporary perspective.
