Carlo Saura retrospective

When we talk about Spanish cinema, we naturally think of Luis Buñuel or Pedro Almodóvar. However, Carlos Saura, one of the most renowned international filmmakers in Spanish cinema, is often forgotten by regular cinephiles. In an effort to bring Saura’s oeuvre to younger Indian audience, Instituto Cervantes of New Delhi, in collaboration with Casa de la India (Valladolid, Spain), presents as a culmination of the photography exhibition Flamenco-India by the artist.

In addition to this, a number of films by Saura will be screened at Instituto Cervantes from March 30 to May 4.

Saura’s work extends over more than sixty years and is marked by the investigation of visual and plastic limits in the seventh art. Cinema, together with photography, have accompanied him in his passion for rethinking traditional Spanish culture and placing it in the present, while projecting his artistic personality into the future.

The Spanish Film Academy has given a significant recognition to his work and he was awarded with the Goya of Honor in 2023. The Aragonese filmmaker also received the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award in Goa in 2022 at the IFFI (International Film Festival of India).

Curator Murtaza Ali Khan says, “Carlos Saura was not just one of the most important filmmakers from the Spanish world alongside Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, but he was one of the most influential filmmakers worldwide. And yet his films apart from Carmen and the Flamenco trilogy at large, have not reached the Indian audience like those of Almodóvar. That’s why the upcoming retrospective on the Spanish master filmmaker holds great importance from the point of view of introducing the younger Indian audiences to some of the most fascinating works of Carlos Saura”.

Film Cría cuervos (1976) will be screened on March 30; Elisa, My Life (1977) on April 5; Mama turns 100 (1979) on April 13; Flamenco Flamenco (2010) on April 22; Oh Carmela! (1990) on April 27; and Iberia (2005) on May 4.

When: 6:30 pm; March 30 – May 4

Where: Instituto Cervantes, Hanuman Road Area, Connaught Place, New Delhi