Filmmaker Almodovar featured on campus this month

A conference on the films of Pedro Almodovar, the foremost director of contemporary Spain, will be held Saturday, Feb. 17.

Almodovar’s films, which typically mix melodrama, film noir, thriller and horror-film styles, have prompted a large body of critical work. His work involves an unusual mix that explores the boundaries of gender, sexuality and nationality. His latest film, All About My Mother, won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Four distinguished scholars of Spanish film will discuss different aspects of Almodovar’s work in an all day session that includes a Spanish lunch. Speakers will include:

  • Paul Julian Smith, professor and chair of Spanish at Cambridge University, who has written the definitive book on Almodovar, Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodovar;

  • Kathleen Vernon, professor of Spanish at SUNY Stony Brook, editor of an important book of essays on Almodovar, Post-Franco, Postmodern: The Films of Pedro Almodovar;

  • Susan Martin-Márquez, professor of Spanish at Rutgers University, who has just published a ground-breaking book on feminism and Spanish cinema, Feminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema: Sight Unseen;

  • Tatjana Pavlovic, assistant professor of Spanish at Tulane University, and a scholar in the field of contemporary Spanish culture.

    An Almodovar film series is running this quarter, sponsored by the Division of Spanish and Portuguese and the Department of Comparative Literature, in conjunction with Spanish 491/C Lit 497B.

    The series is Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m. in 220 Odegaard, through Feb. 28. Upcoming films include:

  • Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, Feb. 14;

  • Kika, Feb. 21; and

  • All About My Mother, Feb. 28.

    The conference is free for UW students, faculty and staff, and $35 for all other participants. The Spanish lunch will be available for $15, and a post-conference reception of Spanish wine tasting and tapas, also $15. For more information about the conference, call 221-6571 or spnrectr@u.washington.edu.

    The conference is cosponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities and the Division of Spanish and Portuguese, with support from the Center for West European Studies, the Center for Spanish Studies, the Cinema Studies Program and the Arts and Sciences College Fund at the UW.



    University Week
    The faculty and staff publication of the University of Washington
    uweek@u.washington.edu
    February 8, 2001