Teatro Eskendria will screen three films in three days by surrealist Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. 

Buñuel is regarded as the father of cinematic surrealism, known for using surrealism for social critique.

His subjects remain relevant today, tackling issues including intolerance, social injustice, and sexism and discrimination against women.

Buñuel's career spanned five decades, working across Spain, France, and Mexico.

The first film to be screened at Teatro on 24 July is El Angel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel, 1962).

The film is about a fancy but odd dinner party. As the servants start to disappear, the guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave, turning the enjoyable evening into a nightmare.

The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1962, and won the Bodil Award for best European film and two Silver Goddess awards at the Mexican Cinema Journalists Festival in 1967 for best supporting actress and best actress in a minor role.

On 25 July, the short documentary Las Hurdes: Tierra sin pan (Land without Bread, 1933) will be screened.

Buñuel combines anthropology with surrealism to portray an isolated village in south-western Spain, exposing inequalities and injustices with his sharp social critique.

In the third selected film Viridana, a woman takes her vows a a nun, and shorty after inherits her rich uncle's estate. She opens up the estate to house a group of homeless people. When they nearly rape her, she rethinks her religious calling.

All films are in Spanish with Arabic subtitles.

Programme:

24 July, at 7pm
The Exterminating Angel,

25 July, at 7pm
Land without Bread

26 July, at 7pm
Viridiana

Teatro Eskendria, 25 Fouad St., Raml Station, Alexandria

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