German Film Week in Barcelona

From june 6th to 9th, the Comèdia Cinema at Passeig de Gràcia, next to our historical Hotel Granvia, will be the venue for German Film Week, as the closing act for the German-Spain exchange event (being held on 4 and 5 June) which will bring a selection of five films from the 13th Madrid German Film Festival.

Among the films being screened we will be able to see Schlafkrankheit [Sleeping Sickness] by Ulrich Kölher, winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, and the latest film by Chris Kraus, Poll. Kraus will also be in attendance at the festival, holding a post-film discussion.

Making up the rest of the programme we have historical films, films on contemporary issues and films set both inside and outside of Germany. Organised by the Goethe Institut Barcelona, this activity is one of the German Week in Barcelona, starting on June 3rd, where Open Air Cinema and performances of dance, live music and light installations, discussions, and stands on central issues of our future, children’s theater and culinary products from Germany will be shown. For three days, Passeig de Lluis Companys in Barcelona, becomes a journey of stands, stages and tents.

More inf@: Goethe Institut Barcelona.

Frederic Marès Museum reopens

The Museu Frederic Marès is a unique collecting museum that preserves the collections assembled by its founder, sculptor Frederic Marès (1893-1991) in a part of the old Royal Palace of the Counts of Barcelona in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. Its original Verger or courtyard garden, still remains intact.

Throughout his lifetime he amassed an extensive Hispanic sculpture collection, as well as tens of thousands of objects that make up a vast collection of collections that documents past lifestyles and customs, mainly from the 19th century. There you can find amusing, unique items like fans, pipes, clocks, jewellery, photographs, toys, keys, pharmacy bottles and reliquaries, all presented in an intimate atmosphere.

The Verger of the Royal Palace is a courtyard filled with orange trees surrounded by arched galleries, a pleasant spot in fine weather; and its open from April to September, both for museum visitors and promenaders.

Frederic Marès i Deulovol (Portbou, 1893 – Barcelona, 1991) came to Barcelona with his family in 1903, when he was ten years old. He immediately started attending classes at the School of Fine Arts, La Llotja, where he received training as a sculptor, and where he would later work as a teacher until 1964.

However, in addition to being a sculptor, Marès also felt a passion for collecting from a tender age. He discovered the world of antiquarians and auctions in Paris back in 1911 and purchased his first collections. He gradually expanded them and gathered them in his sculpture workshop and at his home until in 1944 the Association of Friends of Catalan Museums held an exhibition with a selection from his collection at the City History Archive, and he publicly expressed his determination to donate his collection to the city.

More inf@: Museu Frederic Marès.

Barcelona Sports Film Festival

The Barcelona Sports Film Festival, the only sports-themed cinema and TV festival in Spain, is set to take place in Barcelona between 17 and 21 May. Any audiovisual production with a sports theme can compete, whether it is an animated film, documentary, report, fiction film, promotional or advertising video.

Films will be screened at six different venues:

• Museu Olímpic i de l’Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch
• Centre Excursionista de Catalunya
• Sala d’Àmbit Cultural El Corte Inglés
• Ateneu Barcelonès
• CaixaFòrum
• Filmoteca de Catalunya

Apart from the film sessions the festival includes a whole series of parallel activities that aim to illustrate that sport is a sphere of activity capable of entering into a symbiotic relationship with art, philosophy and innovation.

More inf@: BCN Sports Film Festival

Picasso Lithographer

Gustave Courbet and Realism at MNAC Barcelona

The French Painter Gustave Courbet rocked the art world in the 19th century. Through his brush, reality entered painting: Realism was born.

With the aim of tracing his footsteps in our country, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) is exhibiting, until July 10th, a selection of his most outstanding works, most of which are being shown in Spain for the first time. The exhibition reveals Courbet’s influence on Catalan painting in the period, most of all through the work of Ramon Martí Alsina, the man responsible for the renewal of painting and who introduced Realism to the Spanish art scene.

It is an ambitious exhibition, produced by the MNAC, that invites the public to gain greater in-depth knowledge of Realism and at the same time discover its precedents and its legacy, in a show that deliberately goes beyond the temporal limits of this movement:  from the Spanish Golden Age, with paintings by Murillo, Ribera and Velázquez, to contemporary art, through the work of Antoni Tàpies, one of the most universal Catalan artists.

U232 Hotel offers you an Art Weekend in Barcelona, a special package including accommodation at our 4 star hotel, with a welcome drink and breakfast, and the Barcelona Art Ticket which entitles to visit the 7 largest museums of Barcelona: MNAC, MACBA, Museu Picasso, Fundació Joan Miró, La Pedrera, Fundació Antoni Tàpies and CCCB.

Mecal: International Short Film Festival of Barcelona

This year Mecal, the short film festival that originated 13 years ago, has as many as eight venues and it is as determined as ever to show the versatility and creativity to be found in short films.

The boom in shorts, partly explained by the quality of some of the more affordable digital devices around, is also reflected in the quantity of works received by the festival, nearly 3,500 this year. The final selection is split into three competition sections, with films from over 30 countries, and an even more eclectic fringe programme that combines cult shorts with angrier contemporary ones, as at previous festivals.

Discovering the audiovisual panorama of the Czech Republic, this year’s guest country, is one of the attractions this time round. The shorts that are going to be screened range from the best of the recent batch to film school productions.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhipln

Mecal 2011
XIII International Short Fim Festival of Barcelona
April, 8th – 17th
http://eng.mecalbcn.org/

The Four Puig i Cadafalch columns, symbol of Barcelona’s Historical Memory

In 1919 the architect Puig i Cadafalch built four columns in Montjuïc symbolising the stripes of the Catalan flag but they were demolished by Primo de Rivera in 1928 are back again opposite the Magic Fountain in Montjuïc.

Now, almost ninety years later, the Puig i Cadalfach columns can be seen again in all of their glory opposite the Magic Fountain in Montjuïc, following the removal of the scaffolding around them.

The columns are 20 metres high and have been erected at their original site in the Plaça del Marquès de la Foronda.

The monument was reconstructed using the architect’s original plans and period photographs.

The project will include improved paving for the surrounding area. What is more, the area underneath the columns will be the site for a new Line 2 metro station connecting the Fira de Montjuïc with Gran Via.

Zombies: The Walking Dead take Barcelona

Last Tuesday, was presented the 29th International Comic Fair of Barcelona. The great appointment of the world of the comic will celebrate from 14 to 17 in April and it will take place again to the Hall number 8 of the Fira of Barcelona.

This year, the fair will tribute honors to zombies, one of the most influential element of popular culture, both today and traditionally. Àngel Sala, director of the world-known Sitges Fantastic Cinema Festival, will be in charge of the largest exhibit of the Comic Fair, entitled Zombies: Neither dead nor buried. Side activities related to zombies will also take place during the fair, such as makeup workshops, illustration masterclasses and roundtables.

The Comic Fair of Barcelona has an extensive list of foreign invited authors, that there includes names of the height of Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, creators of the acclaimed series Star City; the scriptwriter Garth Ennis with works like Preacher, The Authority or Crossed; Eddie Campbell, who will present detectives’ Black Diamond agency; Charlie Adlard, draftsman of The Walking Dead or the German author Reinhard Kleist, who will present a biography in cómic of Fidel Castro. France will be represented by stars of the height of the draftsman Arthur De Pins; Camille Jourdy, rewarded in the edition of 2010 of the Festival of Angulema and the recognized French author Edmond Baudoin. Without forgetting Italian authors as Luisa Zancanella, draftsman of Martin Mystère; Angelo Stano, graphical creator of Dylan Dog and Alfredo Castelli and Giancarlo Alesandrini, creators of Martin Mystère.

More inf@: www.ficomic.com

Night-Time Study Rooms Barcelona

With the aim of providing extra study places during the exam period, Barcelona is opening thirteen night-time study rooms, in addition to the city’s eight round-the-year rooms, from this week until 4th February.

That means Barcelona will have 21 night-time study rooms during the exam period, from 9 pm to 1 am, Monday to Friday. This represents an additional 1.200 study places.

All these rooms have tables and chairs, suitable lighting for studying and supplementary material such as general dictionaries and books for consultation.

The regular study rooms opening are in Raval, Sants-Montjuïc, Riera Blanca, Lesseps, Fontana, Horta, Prosperitat, Roquetes, Zona Nord, Can Basté and Sant Martí.

At the same time there are rooms in some public libraries with this night-time timetable throughout the year, including Sagrada Família, Vapor Vell, Vila de Gràcia, Guinardó – Mercè Rodoreda, Ignasi Iglesias – Can Fabra and Manuel Arranz. Study rooms are also opening at the Montserrat centre in Sarrià and the Garcilaso centre in Sant Andreu.

Varekai. Cirque du Soleil in Barcelona

Deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, exists an extraordinary world—a world where something else is possible. A world called Varekai.
The Cirque du Soleil’s latest show in Barcelona takes us into a kaleidoscopic world at the summit of a volcano, the setting for a wonderful, illogical adventure.

The word Varekai means “wherever” in the Romany language of the gypsies the universal wanderers. This production pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, and to the infinite passion of those whose quest takes them along the path that leads to Varekai.

Núñez i Navarro Hotels offers you nine hotels in Barcelona, centrally located, and directly connected to Varekai venue by metro. Your best option in Barcelona.

Where: Gran Carpa de la Plataforma del Zoo Marí (Fòrum)
<M> Maresme-Fòrum (L4)
More inf@ and Tickets: Varekai Website

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