This library has our favourite Spanish language films and it is free for students of 'Spanish and Coffee'. Simply browse and request the film you want to watch, and your teacher will bring the DVD to your next lesson. :)
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.
Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor. When Sylvia falls pregnant, Jose Luis promises her that he will marry her, most likely against the wishes of his parents. Jose Luis' mother is determined to break her son's engagement to a girl from a lower-class family, and hires Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter to seduce Sylvia.
Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate)1992, 123min
A visually delightful tale about a rural Mexican woman growing up in a dysfunctional family, this film was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe for best foreign film. It is based on the novel by Laura Esquivel.
When it appears as though the end is in sight, the pilots, flight crew, and passengers of a plane heading to Mexico City look to forget the anguish of the moment and face the greatest danger, which we carry within ourselves.
The 2000 film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu tells three distinct stories that have an event in common, a Mexico City car accident. Leading actors are Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Bauche, Álvaro Guerrero, Goya Toledo and Emilio Echevarría.
The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta)2004, 116min
This 2004 Argentine film tells the based-on-real-life story of a young Che Guevara, who went on a long motorcycle trip across South America with close friend, Alberto Granado, in the early 1950s while taking a year off from medical school in Argentina. The film is based on memoirs from the trip. It stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal. Guevara is the Cuban revolutionary whose image is well-recognized throughout Latin America.
All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi Madre)1999, 105min
Pedro Almodóvar's Todo sobre mi madre tells the story of Manuela, a 40-ish single mother of a teenage son. The boy never knew his father, and we find out throughout the film how the father's absence has affected both the boy and the mother. A tragedy forces Manuela, played by Cecelia Roth, to leave her home in Madrid and seek the father. The relationships she makes or revives there form the heart of the movie.
Maria Full of Grace (María, llena eres de gracia)2004, 101min
About a 17-year-old Colombian girl who becomes a drug mule, transporting drugs to the United States in her digestive system. It was filmed in both the United States and Colombia, where, you may notice, people address even family members and close friends as used.
Harry Caine is a successful writer but a man who writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years ago, Harry was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote, resulting in not only the loss of his sight, but of something much greater. However Harry Caine is a pseudonym and only a few people know Harry's real identity and of the life he led before the accident. Now Harry has decided to tell the moving and terrible story of his former self. A story of "amour fou", dominated by love, jealousy, treachery and fatality.
Shot in film noir style, La mala educación tells the story of two Catholic schoolboys growing up in Spain in the 1960s. The boys, Ignacio and Enrique, fall in love and draw the jealous attention of a priest, Padro Manolo. The story weaves its way through the next two decades and includes vaguely autobiographical elements relating to Almodóvar.
This Pedro Almodóvar film tells the story of a former mental patient (Antonio Banderas) who is obsessed with a former porn star (Victorial Abril) addicted to heroin.
The skin I live in (La piel que habito)2011, 120min
A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos)2009, 129min
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
A portmanteau film that crosses six stories, each focusing on patience and what pushes people over the edge in darkly hilarious Argentinean style. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
Pedro Almodóvar directs this Spanish drama based on the short stories 'Chance', 'Soon' and 'Silence' from Alice Munro's book 'Runaway'. When recently widowed Julieta (Emma Suárez) discovers that her 18-year-old daughter Antía (Blanca Parés) has run away, she vows to put aside her grief for her late husband and do everything she can to find her daughter. The more she searches, however, the more Julieta realises she doesn't know Antía very well at all.
Obsessive idealist Sebastián has sworn to direct a film about one of the world s most iconic figures, Christopher Columbus. He is determined to overturn the myth of the arrival of Western Civilization in the Americas as a force for good. His film will show what Columbus set in motion: the obsession with gold, the taking of slaves, and the terrible violence visited on those Indians who fought back.
La Lengua De Las Mariposas (Butterfly's Tongue)2012, 95min
For Moncho, it's an idyllic year: he starts school, he has a wonderful teacher, he makes a friend in Roque, he begins to figure out some of the mysteries of Eros, and, with his older brother, a budding saxophone player, he makes a trip with the band from their town in Galicia. But it's also the year that the Spanish Republic comes under fire from Fascist rebels. Moncho's father is a Republican as is the aging teacher, Don Gregorio. As sides are drawn and power falls clearly to one side, the forces of fear, violence, and betrayal alter profoundly what should be the pleasure of coming of age.
UNDERTOW (CONTRACORRIENTE) is the haunting, bittersweet tale of a unique love-triangle set within a small Peruvian fishing village. A highly impressive feature debut from Javier Fuentes-León.