Welcome Mr. Marshall! (Bienvenido Mr. Marshall!)When director Luis García Berlanga passed away in 2010, cinema lost one of its true geniuses. Filmed in the impoverished Spain of the early 1950s, his film Welcome Mr. Marshall! is one of the country's finest comedies.
After hearing that a group of American embassy officials will be visiting their town, the local villagers decide to turn their streets and plazas into a stereotypical Spanish setting in order to capture the visitors' attention and hopefully milk some of the Marshall Plan's benefits.
This clever film is an exceptionally enjoyable and ironic scrutiny of a country confronting not only scarcity and international humiliation, but also a rather chauvinistic and misplaced feeling of pride. A true and unmissable classic.
Curated by Antonio Banderas and coincidently also selected by Pedro Almodóvar for this year's program.
Accompanied by a video introduction from Antonio Banderas.
