site.btaJuan Antonio Bardem Film Retrospective Coming Up in Sofia

The Cervantes Institute in Sofia will host a retrospective of films by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bardem (1922-2002). The screenings will be held every Thursday between November 30 and December 21, the organizers say.

Bardem is one of the most recognizable Spanish film directors internationally, the Cervantes Institute says. He has reaped top awards from the best film festivals. His political leanings and accurate heartbeat as a storyteller, which also shows in his TV works, sustain a clear dialogue with the best cinema of the 20th century.

The Sofia retrospective, titled Juan Antonio Bardem Turns 100, will open with a showing of Death of a Cyclist (1955) on November 30. A compilation of the views of four contemporary film directors about Bardem's 1949 short film A Stroll through an Old War will be presented on December 7. That Happy Couple (1953) will be screened on December 14, and Comedians (1954) on December 21.