In every culture but in Spanish even more dramatically relevant things happen around the table. 

Well it’s just a table, an inanimate simple piece of furniture. Not really, we want to see how most of our daily routines and exceptional news are received at a table. A relationship stuck in stupid arguments, families pretending to be happy, a woman facing her husband’s assassin, academic dismissals, first dates…We present six small beautiful stories around a table.

These are all award winning shorts and you’ll understand why. They were praised in Cannes, Seminci, Toronto… In the case of NORTE it was one of the two Spanish Shortfilms selected to compete at Clermont-Ferrand Short Filmfestival. We have included in the same night precious minimalist love stories, jet black comedy, tales on the Basque conflict… Yet another mind blowing selection as we find established actors and well known performers in this selection. From Goya nominated Eduard Fernández to golden boy of Spanish comedy Julián López or our beloved Antonio Dechent

Boooh Cinemaattic you only give us brainy Shorts! Enough of presumptuous and thought provoking films! When are you gonna giv’ us some good comedy, did you forgot about black humour? All right folks, understood, we are back to roller coasting nights as we plan to move from violence and drama to black comedy. You want to have a good laugh, this is a good month for it!

“Mañana” is well know to be one of most recurrent words used for Spaniards. Christmas is still fresh in your minds (and probably in your belly too). All that excessive amount of food and booze…everyone’s smiling, we are all a happy family aren’t we? Esta noche es Nochebuena y mañana Navidad…says a famous Spanish Christmas carol. In …Y Mañana Navidad – …and tomorrow Christmas day- we take you back to one of those Christmas Eve Dinners, a well respected happy family celebrating the joy of being together…

Still talking about “tomorrow”. In Mañana no es otro dia one of our favourite directors wonders how hard it is for young couples to last today. The master of framing misunderstandings between couples, David Martin de los Santos comfortably digs into conflict in relationships like no other. The limits of solidarity and individualism in modern times full of economic uncertainty. Young folks trying to make a relationship work while everything is fucked up around them. The lack of social security, economic stability and the dark future prospects deeply influence thousands of couples today.

The Basque conflict remains fresh and stirs in Spanish society.  A table separates a woman and a young guy. A terrorist and his direct victim’s wife are in the same room. Many films tried to frame the role of nationalist clandestine organisation ETA and victims associations in the Basque conflict. NORTE is a subtle and reflexive approach to the thorny issues of violence and conflict, the changing nature of Spanish and Basque societies, of ETA and the long lasting Basque conflict.

Inside the system also takes us to table, a particular cold one in a Jobcentre. A woman goes to the unemployment office to apply for benefits. What was a mere formality becomes a nightmare, since the woman’s subsistence completely depends on that money and she is not willing to leave without a solution. This puts the official in a situation where she is torn between regarding the woman as just a number, or seeing the woman as a human being in need of her help.

MESA means table, CORTO means short film. Remember these two because our February service digs in the influence of the table. “C’mon guys is just a table” How could this element influence all the six films of the programme, does the table have an impact on the story? What is the narrative role of the table? Does the table influence the situations that happen in the room? Do wooden tables makes us more depressing than marble ones? Strange questions require strange guys to answer them. No one like Cinemaattic geeks to shed some light into the real power of a simple piece of furniture.

Please have a seat in the cinemaattic table, we have mind blowing contemporary Spanish films for you this month of February.