Spain / 1981 / 72′ / Spanish / English Subtitles

One of Spanish cinema’s great auteurs, Carlos Saura brought international audiences closer to the art of his country’s dance than any other filmmaker, before or since. The first of Saura’s flamenco trilogy, the film revolves around a dance company performing a flamenco adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s play, Blood Wedding, a tragic story about a bride torn between her arranged marriage to the bridegroom and her true love. She eloped with her lover on the wedding night, leading to a fatal confrontation where the lover and the groom killed each other. Starring and choreographed by legendary dancer Antonio Gades, the film features thrilling physicality and electrifying cinematography and editing—colorful paeans to bodies in motion as well as to cinema itself.