Arena Cervantes 2022

A journey through Spanish society to discover unusual, curious stories, rich in humanity. The summer outdoor arena in the gardens of the Instituto Cervantes in Rome this year presents a program composed of four feature films from Spanish cinematography (in original version with Italian subtitles) that aim to show the Spanish cultural and linguistic variety, to tell the story of contemporary Spain through four of its official languages: Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Basque.

The initiative, with free admission subject to availability, is inaugurated by director and writer David Trueba, in Rome to present the Italian premiere of his latest production, “A este lado del mundo”. The program continues with the screening of “Els dies que vindran” by Carlos Marqués-Marcet (past winner of the Goya Award for Best New Director), set in Barcelona and in Catalan. Lyrical and powerful is the next film, “O que arde”, in Galician, written and directed by Oliver Laxe, the story of an arsonist who, after serving his time in prison, returns home to the green hills of Galicia.

The festival closes with the Roman premiere of the Basque-language documentary “918 gau”, written and directed by Arantxa Sanesteban, a historian, filmmaker and independent researcher: an experimental, highly personal and political first feature, told in the first person, about the 918 nights the filmmaker spent in prison.