Pedro Almodóvar at MoMA

It is not the first time our film director Pedro Almodovar, has a recognition in the MoMA (in 2011, was already recognized his work in the museum), which accompanies a special recognition of his work in the United States, where it has received the most important awards, two academy awards in Hollywood or be named honorary Harvard University.

Pedro Almodóvar will be honored with a major career retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art. Opening on November 29 with a special screening of Almódovar’s latest work and 20th feature film, Julieta (2016) [Synopsis, below], to be released nationally on December 21, the retrospective will include all 20 of the director’s feature films, beginning with his first film Pepi, Luci, Bom, y otras chicas del montón (Pepi, Luci, Bom) from 1980.

In conjunction with the retrospective, Almodóvar will participate in an evening-long conversation and Q&A at the Museum, with the date and other details to be announced.

Almodóvar (Spanish, b. 1949) made his exuberant entry onto the film scene in 1980, riding a post-Franco countercultural wave in Spain, and established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in cinema. His work contributed to the creation of a new Spanish cultural and social order, and through his production company El Deseo (founded in 1986 with his brother Agustín) he has made some of the most globally influential films of the past 30 years. His genre-defying films mix camp, melodrama, and humor to explore themes of transgression, desire, and identity. Almodóvar has constructed a colorful universe inhabited by offbeat characters, fluid sexual and gender identities, and complex and singular women. His all-inclusive, anything-goes spirit, which celebrates all beings, emotions, and reasons, appeals to a worldwide audience, allowing him to be at once a countercultural provocateur and the Oscar-winning writer/director of All About My Mother and Talk to Her.

Commenting on the announcement, Almodóvar said, “It is an honor to be back at MoMA, where I started my American career more than 30 years ago. I’ve always been happy at MoMA and it is a dream for me to have younger audiences discover my early films this way. I cannot think of a more prestigious venue or one closer to me than MoMA to open my latest film, Julieta. I hope I will rise to the occasion.”

Mr. Roy adds: “Our love affair with Pedro and his ravishing films began in 1984 when What Have I Done to Deserve This? was presented in New Directors/New Films, blossomed at the MoMA Film Benefit honoring him in 2011, and will culminate in December in the form of his retrospective. Expect hearty laughs, salty tears, and colorful conversation with this singular international master-filmmaker.”

Pedro Almodóvar is organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and La Frances Hui, Associate Curator, Department of Film, MoMA.

Dates.- November 29, 2016–December 17, 2016

Full List of Films featured in Pedro Almodóvar:
Pepi, Luci, Bom, y otras chicas del montón (Pepi, Luci, Bom). 1980. 82 min.
Laberinto de pasiones (Labyrinth of Passion). 1982. 100 min.
Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits). 1983. 114 min.
¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?). 1984. 101 min.
Matador. 1986. 110 min.
La ley del deseo (Law of Desire). 1987. 102 min.
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). 1988. 90 min.
¡Átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!). 1990. 111 min.
Tacones lejanos (High Heels). 1991. 112 min.
Kika. 1993. 114 min.
La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret). 1995. 103 min.
Carne trémula (Live Flesh). 1997. 103 min.
Todo sobre mi madre (All about My Mother). 1999. 101 min.
Hable con ella (Talk to Her). 2002. 112 min.
La mala educación (Bad Education). 2004. 106 min.
Volver. 2006. 121 min.
Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces). 2009. 127 min.
La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In). 2011. 120 min.
Los amantes pasajeros (I’m So Excited!). 2013. 90 min.
Julieta. 2016. 99 min.

About.- JULIETA

Julieta (Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte) lives in Madrid with her daughter Antía. They both suffer in silence over the loss of Xoan (Daniel Grao), Antía’s father and Julieta’s husband. But at times grief doesn’t bring people closer, it drives them apart. When Antía turns eighteen she abandons her mother, without a word of explanation. Julieta looks for her in every possible way, but all she discovers is how little she knows of her daughter. Julieta is about a mother’s struggle to survive uncertainty. It is also about fate, guilt complexes, and that unfathomable mystery that leads us to abandon the people we love, erasing them from our lives as if they had never meant anything, as if they had never existed. In Spanish with English subtitles. Running time: 96 minutes.

JULIETA, by Pedro Almodóvar, a Sony Pictures Classics Release, opens December 21, 2016. Written and Directed by Pedro Almodovar. Based on the stories Chance, Soon and Silence by Alice Munro. Executive Producer Agustín Almodóvar. Producer Esther García. Original score Alberto Iglesias. Editing José Salcedo. Director of photography Jean-Claude Larrieu. Starring Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma.

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