8th Hispanic Film Festival

The Athens Hispanic Film Festival – FeCHA returns for its 8th edition,  to highlight for one more year the cinematic wealth of Spanish-speaking countries. The 8th FeCHA will take place at the open-air cinemas Ellinis Cinemax Europa Cinemas, Aello Cinemax, while screenings will be hosted by the Cervantes Institute of Athens and the Hellenic American Union.

The 8th FeCHA is part of This is Athens – City Festival by the Municipality of Athens.

The program of the 8th FeCHA includes 17 feature films, a tribute to the Peruvian director Roberto Bonilla and a selection of the best Spanish-language short films of recent years in the beloved section of the cortoFeCHA Festival.

The official opening film of the Festival will be the film “Bajo Terapia”, in the presence of the film’s director and producer Gerardo Herrero and producer Mariela Besuievsky. In the film three married couples undergo an unusual group therapy. Their psychologist, although she is not with them in the session, has left them folders with instructions on what to do. The film is based on the award-winning play by Argentine writer Matías Del Federico, which was first performed in Argentina in 2015, and has since been performed in more than 15 countries around the world. Herrero and Besuievsky produced the 2010 Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Her Eyes.

The 8th FeCHA will close with the film ” Radical”, by Christopher Zalla, which won the Audience Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Based on a true story, the film tells the story of a teacher in a corrupt and violent Mexican border town who tries a radical new teaching method to unlock his students’ curiosity and potential, perhaps even their intelligence.

Ticket prices

Ellinis Cinemax Europa Cinemas & Aello Cinemax Screening | 8EUR/screening

Reduced (Student-Unemployed-Disabled-Cervantes Institute Students, 65+) | 6EUR/screening – Available only at the box office of Ellinis Cinemax Europa Cinemas (20:00-23:30) and Aello Cinemax (18:00-23:30)

Limited Three Screening Tickets | 16.5EUR – Available only during the pre-sale (May 16-29) at the box office of Ellinis Cinemax Europa Cinemas (20.00 – 23.30) and Aello Cinemax (18:00-23:30). Three screening tickets are personal, non-transferable and cannot be changed once purchased.

Program

Thursday, May 30 | 20:50

Chinas | Arantxa Echevarria, Spain, 2023, 119 minutes

The tale of two 9-year-old Chinese girls told parallel to one another. The two start school in Madrid: they look alike, but they are very different: Lucia is the daughter of immigrants She feels Spanish, she wants to fit in, but her parents don’t speak Spanish and they work all day long. They don’t even want her to celebrate her birthday at Burger King. Xiang is adopted. She attracts attention wherever she goes with her Spanish parents. She feels neither Chinese nor accepted by the children at school.

The film was nominated for 4 Goya Awards (three nominations for debut actors and Best Song)

Thursday, May 30 | 23:15

La Uruguaya | Ana García Blaya, Argentina – Uruguay, 2022, 78 minutes

Based on the novel by Pedro Mairal. A writer pins his hopes on a free-spirited 25-year-old he meets in Montevideo to overcome his midlife crisis. But that day turns out to be the most unexpected and transformative day of his life.

Friday, May 31 | 20:50

Upon Entry | Alejandro Rojas – Juan Sebastián Vasquez, Spain, 2022, 72 minutes

Diego, a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena, a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Their intention is to boost their professional careers and start a family in ‘the land of opportunities’. But upon entering New York airport’s immigration area, they are taken to the secondary inspection room, where border officers will subject them to an unpleasant inspection process and a psychologically grueling interrogation.

Friday, May 31 | 22:30

The Messiahs | Javier Ambrossi – Javier Calvo, Spain, 2023, 120 minutes

Two episodes of the exciting Spanish mini-series. The viral video of a Christian pop musical group, made up of several sisters, impacts the life of Enric, a man tormented by a childhood marked by religious fanaticism and the yoke of a mother with messianic delusions. With Carmen Machi, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth

Saturday June 1 | 20:50

Te estoy amando locamente | Alejandro Marín, Spain, 2023, 107 minutes

Seville, 1977. At a time when homosexuality is a crime, Reme, a traditional mother moved by love for her son, a teenage aspiring artist, will become involved in the Andalusian LGTBI movement, paradoxically created within the Church. 5 nominations at the Goya awards.

With the presence of director Alejandro Marín and screenwriter Carmen Garrido Vacas.

Saturday June 1 | 23:00

La mujer salvaje | Alán González, Cuba, 2023, 93 minutes

In a Havana slum, a woman survives a bloody fight between her husband and her lover. In a desperate attempt to spare her son from the scandal, she decides to run away with him, but a video of the incident has already gone viral.

Sunday, June 2 | 20:50

Cassandro | Roger Ross Williams, Mexico – USA, 2023, 107 minutes

Gael García Bernal is Saul Armendariz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, rises to worldwide fame after creating the character of Cassandro, the ‘Liberace of Lucha Libre’. In the process, he not only drastically turns the traditionally masculine world of wrestling on its head, but also his own life. By Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams. Based on real events. World premiere: Sundance 2023.

Sunday, June 2 | 23:00

Campeonex | Javier Fesser, Spain, 2023, 124 minutes

Highest grossing Spanish film of 2023. Our team of “champions” abandons basketball to mistakenly enter the fascinating world of athletics with the help of a rookie coach. Between the harsh demands of the new discipline and the coach’s surprising ability to attract all kinds of misfortunes and calamities, everything will end up. The film was nominated for 2 Goya Awards (Best New Actor and Sound)

Monday, June 3 | 20:50

El Rapto | Daniela Goggi, Argentina, 2023, 95 minutes

After fleeing the brutal military dictatorship, Julio and his family return full of hope from exile to their home country of Argentina in the 1980s. As part of a Jewish industrial dynasty, it’s now up to him to manage the business in Buenos Aires alongside his brother Miguel. But Miguel is kidnapped, and in order to free him, Julio has to negotiate ransom demands with a band of criminals. He soon realises that the newly-formed democratic government still has a long way to go before it can break free from the ties of the former regime.

Monday, June 3 | 22:45

Chinas | Arantxa Echevarria, Spain, 2023, 119 minutes

The tale of two 9-year-old Chinese girls told parallel to one another. The two start school in Madrid: they look alike, but they are very different: Lucia is the daughter of immigrants She feels Spanish, she wants to fit in, but her parents don’t speak Spanish and they work all day long. They don’t even want her to celebrate her birthday at Burger King. Xiang is adopted. She attracts attention wherever she goes with her Spanish parents. She feels neither Chinese nor accepted by the children at school.

The film was nominated for 4 Goya Awards (three nominations for debut actors and Best Song)

Tuesday, June 4 | 20:50

Cerrar los ojos | Víctor Erice, Spain – Argentina, 2023, 170 minutes

The new film by legendary director Victor Erice. Famous Spanish actor, Julio Arenas, who disappears while filming a movie. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he has suffered an accident at a cliff by the sea. Many years later, the mystery is brought up once more by a TV program that tries to evoke the actor, offering as a scoop images of the last scenes in which he participated, shot by his close friend, director Miguel Garay. The film was nominated for 11 Goya Awards and won the Best Supporting Actor Award for Jose Coronado’s performance.

Wednesday June 5 | 20:50

Los Iniciados | Juan Felipe Orozco, Colombia, 2023, 110 minutes

Inspired by acclaimed Colombian author Mario Mendoza. In a near future plagued by water shortages Frank Molina a gruff journalist must face his demons to get to the murder.

Wednesday June 5 | 23:00

Adiós Buenos Aires | German Kral, Argentina, 2023, 90 minutes

From the director of the movie “The Last Tango”

Buenos Aires, November 2001. Argentina is embroiled in crisis. The country‘s economy is stagnating and the peso is plunging deeper and deeper, while the anger and distrust of the Argentinian people towards their corrupt government is growing steadily. In the midst of these troubled times, the Vecinos de Pompeya – a five-piece tango band – are trying to keep their heads above water. Julio the bandoneon player plans to emigrate to Germany together with his daughter Paula and his mother Dorothea. Julio sets about taking care of his last affairs in Buenos Aires – but he can‘t get away from the city so easily.