Newcastle

Coinciding with the 11th edition of the ¡Vamos! Festival, the Newcastle Bigas Luna tribute event included four film screenings, an exhibition, a special food menu inspired by the ‘Iberian Portraits’ trilogy and and two themed parties.

The Tyneside Cinema screened the entire ‘Iberian Portraits’ trilogy and DiDi Hollywood over the weekend (10-12 June 2016). All screenings were introduced by Dr Santiago Fouz Hernández. Additionally, the ‘Iberian Portraits’ film screenings were followed by a Q&A session with casting director Consol Tura and Betty Bigas.

The ‘Barbaric Comedies’ video art exhibition, curated by Betty Bigas and Santiago Fouz Hernández, was shown at Vane gallery for five days (8-12 June 2016). It showcased some of Bigas Luna’s controversial video artwork, including the famous short Necklace of Flies (2002) and the five-piece video installation ‘Barbaric Comedies’, which was inspired by the well-known work of Spanish dramatist Valle-Inclán. The video installation ‘Barbaric Comedies’ was produced in 2003 to complement Bigas Luna’s extravagant adaptation of the famous trilogy by Spanish playwright Ramón del Valle-Inclán (1866-1936), the Barbaric Comedies. The seven-hour long performance took place in Sagunto, Spain, as the closing act of the Valencia Biennale. It had a budget of 2.4 million Euros and a cast of 90 actors, including trained theatre actors, street performers and extras, as well as animals. The video pieces were meant to introduce the spectator into the world of Valle-Inclán as re-interpreted by Bigas Luna. The two had a lot in common, as suggested by the pop-up ‘Bigas-Valle Museum’ in the corridor that led to the 10,000-square-metre industrial unit where the main performance took place. The pieces were chosen for this homage event as they are closely related to the ‘Iberian Portraits’ trilogy of films by Bigas Luna being screened at the Tyneside Cinema. The gallery information sheet can be found here.

After parties were held at the Tyneside Bar Café on Friday 10 June 2016 and at ¡Vamos! Social on Saturday 11 June 2016.

Nearly 500 people attended the screenings and exhibition combined. The event was recommended by The Guardian The Guide (4 June 2016). The event flyer  is available here and the press release here.

The full Newcastle website is archived here.