El Espíritu de la Colmena

In the organizer's words:

El Espíritu de la Colmena
ESP 1973 | 98 min. | OV/English | D: Victor Erice with Ana Torrent, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera

In a Castilian village, shortly after the end of the Spanish Civil War, a little girl, inspired by a Frankenstein movie and the seemingly corresponding events in her environment, escapes into a dream world between a longing for death and hope.
Erice ́s debut film is underlaid with subtle references to the political situation in Spain at the end of the Franco era. With its criminal, violent intentions and a name similar to Franco, the monster can be understood as a metaphor for the Spanish dictator, shortly before his death in 1975.