Dante Is not only Severe
Jacinto Esteva & Joaquim Jordà, 1967, 78 min
Spanish with English subtitles  

Introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht

“The 'manifesto' movie of the 'Barcelona School' [is a] crazily freewheeling, pre-post-modern affair in which a wife tells her husband various jokes, stories and non-sequiturs, most of which are then 'illustrated' via dramatisations, stills and pre-pop-video sequences (owing as much to Godard as Buñuel.) The husband is played by none other than Pasolini's Christ, Enrique Irazoqui, the picture looks terrific, and the anything-goes flow of ideas and images is more often arresting than not – quite remarkable that such a loosey-goosey affair should have been made under Franco's dictatorship (but typical of Barcelona's anti-establishment traditions). By far the best sequence is the extended pre-credits opening, in which various trendy young folk (everyone in the film is beautiful or the next best thing) sit around listening to jukebox music in an open air cafe: looks like it was shot and cut yesterday. Remainder never quite matches the insouciant, rebellious charm of this prologue, but at 78 minutes Dante certainly doesn't outstay its welcome.” – Neil Young

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Presented in collaboration with Filmoteca de Catalunya and the Department of Culture

Never on Sunday is a series of screenings of rare classics, archive masterpieces, obscure delights and forgotten gems carefully curated and introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht and taking place the last Sunday of each month at Close-Up.