About

Bigas Luna Tribute

In an intensive career, Bigas Luna (1946-2013) released seventeen feature films, with considerable international success. Among his best known works are the ground-breaking erotic film Bilbao (1978), the horror classic Anguish (1987), starring Zelda Rubinstein (star of Poltergeist), the memorable Jamón, jamón (1992), which launched the career of Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Jordi Mollà, and the critically acclaimed The Chambermaid of the Titanic (1997), starring Olivier Martinez.

This series of homage events started San Francisco in 2015, and has continued since with events in Newcastle upon Tyne and in Barcelona in 2016, Mexico City and Valencia in 2017, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney (Australia) and San José (Costa Rica) in 2018, Manchester and Vienna in 2019, Madrid in 2021, and New York, Copenhagen, Cleveland (Ohio) and Edinburgh in 2022. Cities in 2023 will include Los Angeles and Lisbon. Public screenings originally planned for 2020 were postponed due to the pandemic and instead we held online events during that year. We have collaborated with some 15 cinemas, 4 film festivals, the American Cinematheque, the Mexican national Cineteca, the Danish Cinemateket, the Costa Rican Film Production Centre or the Cleveland Institute of Art among others. We have had numerous sponsors internationally, including several consulates of Spain and Instituto Cervantes centres in Sydney, Manchester and Vienna. So far we have organised over 100 screenings in eight different countries around the world.

The Bigas Luna Tribute provides audiences with the unique opportunity of seeing some of Bigas Luna’s most critically acclaimed works and participate in in-depth discussions with special guests (academics and members of the Spanish film industry who worked with Bigas Luna). Organisers Betty Bigas (the daughter of Bigas Luna, artist and art curator currently based in Catalonia) and Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández (Durham University, UK) usually introduce some of the films and lead the Q&A sessions in main events. Special guests have included Consol Tura, the casting director of most Bigas Luna’s films, Santiago Garrido Rua, co-director of Bigas x Bigas; Carmen Chaves Gastaldo, co-scriptwriter of Yo soy la Juani and DiDi Hollywood; Celia Orós, widower of Bigas Luna and co-producer of Bigas x Bigas and filmmakers Ventura Pons and F Javier Guitiérrez; as well as academics who specialise on Spanish Cinema, including Professor Carolina Sanabria (University Costa Rica),  Professor Alfredo Martínez Expósito (University of Melbourne), Dr Abigail Loxham (University of Liverpool), Dr Esther Giménez Ugalde (University of Vienna), Dr Gerard Dapena (independent scholar) of Dr Fiona Noble (University of Stirling) among others.

In Costa Rica, the Bigas Luna Tribute received a special mention by the Government as an event of cultural interest. We have been featured in the national newspapers of Spain (El país), Costa Rica (La nación), and, in Australia, on the cover of the Entertainment supplement of The Age and across the Fairfax network, as well as in many other news outlets and podcasts. In the UK the Newcastle event was recommended by The Guardian The Guide as ‘unmissable’.

We are happy to be approached by media outlets to discuss past and present events and by film festivals or cinemas interesting in hosting future events. Please just send us an email to bigaslunatribute@gmail.com

Follow us on twitter @bigaslunahomage  #bigaslunatribute
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Our website is bigaslunatribute.info