No rain in Spain

A land of movies and famed  for its film festivals (encouraged by Franco in the past to entertain and perhaps  district his citizens) Spain seemed recently to have come off the boil somewhat, after the merry madness of the Movida in Madrid, orchestrated by  Pedro Almodovar as the new Dolce Vita of  the 1980s and1990s. The boom of Madrid European Capital of Culture, the Olympics in a transformed Barcelona, and the last great  Expo of the century in southerly  Sevilla led inevitably to financial disaster in the Millennium. But the country is valiantly fighting back and if there is not yet a new movida there is certainly movement in Spain again, in society, the arts, and the cinema, and in the realm of festivals. Let me offer some thoughts on my recent, first footing at the 41.Festival Internacional de Teatro Clasico de Almagro which furnished ample material for cineastes, casting directors and a peerless paradigm for organisers of film and all manner of festivals.And in the torrid but dry heats of a 32 degree Centigrade summer.

Phillip Bergson

www.festivaldealmagro.com