This month of May, Instituto Cervantes de Manila invites you to embark on a virtual journey to the heart of rural Spain with its online film series, “Geolocalizations and New Ruralities.” Through a selection of four captivating documentaries, the series explores the contemporary rural life of Spain and the new migration trends between cities and rural spaces. Available on Instituto Cervantes’ Vimeo channel, these documentaries offer fresh perspectives on rural communities and the challenges and opportunities brought by socioeconomic change.

A New Era for Rural Communities

Over the past two centuries, rural life has experienced countless transformations, just like urban life. Migration has depopulated vast agricultural areas, with younger inhabitants moving to cities to forge their futures, often in foreign lands. However, recent times have seen a growing desire to recapture the elements of well-being that rural environments offer to people and communities. Life outside the hectic urban pace has emerged as an alternative model of sustainability and coexistence, proposing another way to repopulate rural spaces.

Four Unique Stories from Across Spain

The Instituto Cervantes presents four documentaries that bring us closer to life stories in the countryside from four different points in the Spanish geography. These stories open a window to the lights and shadows of this way of life, offering a contemporary perspective on traditions and the challenges of maintaining these new future investments.

Dive into Spanish Rural Life with These Films

The complete program is available on Instituto Cervantes’ Vimeo channel: vimeo.com/showcase/nuevasruralidades. The series kicks off on May 6th and runs throughout the month, with each film available for 48 hours during their respective screening weekends. The documentaries, presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, will have English subtitles, and admission is free.

On May 13th and 14th, Os fillos da vide (2017), by Ana Domínguez, will be showcased on the channel. If you want to learn about the most ancestral Spanish traditions and everything about our country’s wine, don’t miss this film in which the director Ana Domínguez shows us a piece of her childhood through the grape harvest and festivities of her hometown in Galicia. You will fall in love with their millennial culture, its people, and its landscapes! (Link to the film: vimeo.com/799821212).

The third film of the cycle, 150 i una Grossa (2020), by Aurora Sulli and Núria Deulofeu, takes us to Ametlla de Merola, one of the smallest towns in Catalonia with just over 150 inhabitants. The town’s central core is its theater, but due to lack of resources, it must close down. Everything changes when the town wins the Christmas lottery and the residents decide to use the winnings to refurbish the theater and prevent it from disappearing. The film will be freely available for 48 hours on May 20th and 21st through the link vimeo.com/799848938

Finally, on May 27th and 28th, the film cycle will come to an end with  Los saldos (link: vimeo.com/800448839). In this documentary, released in 2022, filmmaker Raúl Capdevila bids farewell to the rural world, which seems destined for disappearance due to the fast pace of modern life. The film tells the story of his return home and how he and his father face the forced industrialization of their town in the form of a Western-style tale.

The films, presented by Instituto Cervantes in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, will have English subtitles. Admission is free. 

Stay Connected with Instituto Cervantes

For further information and updates on this film series, please check out Instituto Cervantes’ Facebook site (www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila) or the event page: www.facebook.com/events/1456518371820323. To learn more about the cultural program of Instituto Cervantes, visit their website (http://manila.cervantes.es) or follow them on social media (Facebook: InstitutoCervantesManila; Instagram: institutocervantesmanila).