Julio Medem is a well known and successful director, and his films (Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Sex and Lucía, Room in Rome, etc.) have also gained a following in Hungary. His first full-length feature film, which collected dozens of awards, is a family story that spans generations and follows the fates, conflicts and contact points of two rival Basque families from 1875 to 1936. Anyone looking for a classical, epic family romp will not be disappointed. Vacas is much more about passions. Medem's characters are not finely ground emotional wallflowers, but incredibly strong figures hewn from flesh and blood. And the manner in which they interplay with nature, flora and fauna, birth and death is entirely unique. Vacas is characterised by sharp contrasts. The idyllic, disconcertingly aesthetically stylised world is capable of shifting gears into bloody drama at a stroke. Julio Medem was born in 1958 and belongs to a middle generation whose careers began after the decline of the Franco regime. He no longer struggles with symbols and complicatedly packaged messages, instead speaking with unambiguous openness. In his imagery too. His emotional and descriptive visuals are on occasion shocking and he never allows the viewer to retreat into the refuge of the abstract. It is thus that – whether we like it or not – we must experience every moment to the bone.

The series is made possible with the support of the Cervantes Institute and Embassy of Spain.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest