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Madrid, 1987

    Director: David Trueba

    Screenwriters: David Trueba

    Institute History

    On a hot summer day in Madrid during a significant year of social and political transition in Spain, Miguel, a revered older journalist, meets with a beautiful young student, Ángela, in a café. She wants to interview him for a project. He, with sexual intentions, suggests they go to his friend’s studio nearby. Somehow they end up locked in a bathroom together, naked, with no rescue in sight. Removed from the outside world, the pair, who represent polarized generations, begin a complex duel. On the surface, it seems a setup of unequal age, intellect, ambition, and experience, but over 24 hours, power and desire transfer from person to person.

    Madrid, 1987 focuses on two characters who embody the duality of their times. Veteran actor José Sacristán and María Valverde portray the vulnerability of their characters’ situation unforgettably. Writer/director David Trueba, who made Madrid, 1987 independently in Spain, skillfully pares down his film into a layered look at a fleeting and uncommon connection made across one of life’s divides.

    — K.Y.
    Awards
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