SPANISH FRIDAY – E PREMTJA SPANJOLLE
With the support of the Embassy of Spain in Albania:
Screening on Friday 28 January 2011 – 7 p.m. – Free Entrance
“La Madre Muerta” (The Dead Mother) by Juanma Bajo Ulloa 
106 min – 1993 – Drama – Spain – (Spanish language with English subtitles)
with Karra Elejalda, Ana Alvarez, Lio, Silvio Marso..
The murderer Ismael shoots the owner of the house at a burglary. Her young daughter becomes a witness to the murder and the girl’s gaze is imprinted on Ismael’s memory. Several years later he rediscovers the same expression on the face of a teenage girl. Ismael is attracted by her and her gaze, but the fear of recognition torments him and his relationship with his girlfriend Maite becomes increasingly violent. The only solution appears to be to get rid of the witness.
In Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s movie no one is unmistakably good or evil. He presents the characters and their actions without passing judgement. A murderer who wants the love of his victim at any cost. This beautiful and brutal story is full of irony and comedy. The killer who dresses up as a clown to make his victim laugh. But the psychologically disturbed girl is unable to speak as well as laugh. Their only connection is the frequently recurring chocolate bars. ”To speak is not important”, says one of the main characters. The dialogue in The Dead Mother is virtually non-existent. Instead the suggestive imagery moves the action forward. The camera doesn’t rest for a moment. Discreet, almost insidious – and sometimes insistently clear, it captures the brilliantly composed sequences, accompanied by Bingen Mendizabal’s suggestive music. As in Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s debut feature Butterfly Wings, the film describes a separate, timeless world, with its own inner logic. The sun never shines on the desolate, cold winter landscape. The naked trees and the shades of gray contribute to a striking minimalism. Throughout the film a claustrophobic atmosphere prevails, a sense of inevitability. However, Bajo Ulloa plays a kind of cat and mouse game with the audience, who never knows what to expect around the corner. The viewer is kept on edge throughout the film. There is a constant foreboding of a murder which doesn’t seem to be committed.
Hyrja e Lire – Entrada Libre – Free Entrance – Entrée Libre – Eintritt Frei
