Few people are aware that Pedro Almodóvar, as well as being a director and screenwriter, has also worked as a producer on the films of other directors, including The Secret Life of Words, Life Without Me and The Devil’s Backbone. It is true that we don’t always know what the producer actually does, and some producers are mainly there to get the film the funding it needs to get made. And there are other producers – often more than one for each film – who are involved throughout the whole process. One thing all producers have in common is that they believe in the film.
The Argentinian film Wild Tales displays perhaps a deeper than normal link with its producer, Almodóvar. Of course, it could just be a coincidence, but the way director Damián Szifron uses black humour to provide reflections on the world, on life and on death reveals him to be a spiritual cousin of Pedro Almodóvar. The film was a roaring success not only in the Spanish-speaking world, earning recognition – including an Oscar nomination – and various awards and prizes all over the world. So, what is its strength? Maybe that it shows how normal human situations, trifling everyday grievances and conflicts can, with a single tiny push, be transformed into wild, simultaneously bloody and humorous dramas. The seizing of a moment, when general suffering and perceived slights cause pain that is so agonising it cannot be healed, and that it is hard to give a rational answer to. A crazy diagnosis from a no less crazy world.

The screening takes place in cooperation with the Spanish Embassy.

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