2013 wasn’t Spain’s best film year. Not as many films. Not as many great films. Rather quiet in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. Some claim the reasons for this can be found in the hardening political and social climate. The economy has been failing, there is less support, raised taxes, and we find ourselves in a hardening cultural and political climate. However, in difficult times talents intensify, so we know the coming years will bring surprises and new eminence, not in the least by women, who seemed to have taken the largest step back this year.
But let's keep in mind, more than a handful made it through 2013, and did it more than well.
THESE ARE THE BEST SPANISH FILM IN 2013 according to El Pais:
A man and woman, male and female, tension and repulsion, sexuality and the Stockholm syndrome. All this in a daily and common environment. A nightclub, a street, a house, a night and the next morning. It is a provocative film that will not leave anyone indifferent, and that is one of the aspects that interest the director: as a viewer you are enthralled, you identify, but you also feel uncomfortable with opinions you start assuming during the film.
NO 9 KANIMAMBO by Abdelatif Hwidar, Carla Subirana & Adán Aliaga
Three directors, three trips, three views. Three directors venture into Mozambique, to them an unknown country of great purity and authenticity, looking for characters that allow them to create exciting stories. Marked by the stigma of the civil war, the war of independence, and poverty and disease, Kanimambo presents men and women as heroes of everyday life, whose sole purpose is to fight for a better life. Kanimambo is a reflection of the contrast and different perceptions of life in Africa and in the West.
NO 8 LOS ILUSOS by Jonás Trueba
A film about the desire to make movies, or what some filmmakers do when they make film. About wasting time and lost time. A film about drunkenness, meals and routines, on walk outs, about being in love, about being alone and being with friends, and about building future memories for future films.
NO 7 TODAS LAS MUJERES by Mariano Barroso
Nacho tells the story of a veterinarian facing the women who have meant something in his life. His lover, his mother, his psychologist, his partner, his ex-girlfriend and her sister appear. They all have things they need to resolve with him.
NO 6 CANÍBAL by Manuel Martín Cuenca
Inspired by a short story by Humberto Arenal, Cuenca tells the story of Carlos, Granada's most prestigious tailor. He is a respectable man. His life is work and eat, but not just anything. Carlos is cannibalistic. He feeds on women; tourists, and strangers. He is used to not having any emotional attachments. However, all that changes the day he meets Nina, a Romanian woman desperately searching for her twin sister. The sister's name is Alexandra, she worked as a masseuse and ... was Carlo's neighbor . Nina is desperate and needs help. Carlos is her only hope. A reflection on the dialectics between evil and love, cannibalism and tenderness.
NO 5 LA HERIDA by Fernando Franco
Ana is 28 years old. She feels useful and fulfilled in their routine work helping others. However, outside of working hours, she has serious relationship problems. She is socially awkward and even aggressive with her nearest and dearest and can't control this behavior or her emotions. She becomes more and more isolated, when in reality she just wants others to be happy. Ana suffers from what psychiatrists call borderline personality disorder or borderline syndrome, but she doesn't know it.
NO 4 A PUERTA FRÍA by Xavi Puebla
"When did you fuck it up?" Salva asks in the hotel bar where an important fair is held. He was a star seller at a multinational company who now is facing being fired if he doesn't close a big sale in two days. A film about astonished generational changes and disloyalty in an industry that has became indifferent to those employees who yesterday were indispensable. A current "western", which instead of happening in a desert, takes place in the lobby of a luxury hotel.
NO 3 GENTE EN SITIOS by Juan Cavestany
Shot without a budget and with handheld camera "Gente en Sitios" is a kaleidoscopic story, a walking comedy with drama, social interventions, horror and surrealism, with the irreducible poetry of the human condition against the onslaught of the bizarre and chaotic as the common denominator.
NO 2 MAPA by León Siminiani
A young Spanish director is dismissed from his work in television. To realize his dream of making films he travels to India with the intention of making his first feature film, but soon discovers that what he really wants is not to be found in India but in Madrid. Filmed over several years with a very limited budget it is a "film-diary" that narrates, in the first person, situations of the everyday life of the filmmaker.
NO 1 VIVIR ES FÁCIL CON LOS OJOS CERRADOS by David Trueba
Antonio is a teacher who uses Beatles songs to teach English in Spain in 1966. When he learns that his idol John Lennon is making a film in Almería, he decides to travel there to meet him. En route he picks up Juanjoer, a 16 year old boy who has run away from home, and Bethlehem a 21 year old also appears to be a run-away.