Our 29th Annual Reel Music Festival brings to the surface films that tell the creative, unexpected, and sometimes transformative origins of sounds so infused in our experience. We hope that our annual celebration of sound and image, music and culture, offers something that will perk your curiosity, warm your soul, and send you scouting for new discovery—whatever your musical tastes.

Special thanks go to Music Millennium, Willamette Week, Oregon Music News, KINK.fm, Musicfest NW, Search Party, KMHD Jazz Radio, opbmusic.org, and McMenamin’s for helping make it all happen.

Enjoy.

The irreverence and energy of Almodóvar. The risk-taking of Amenábar. The unadulterated exhilaration of Buñuel. The fourth annual FESTIVAL OF NEW SPANISH CINEMA continues to unveil the next generation of Spanish film masters. Featuring first-time filmmakers and established artists alike, this year’s program offers something for Spanish cinema lovers of all persuasions: award-winning comedies, romances, dramas, and thrillers, including a lost horror classic. For added insight, trailers and special online interviews with directors featured in the series are available at pragda.com.

Organized by Pragda and Northwest Film Center. Supported by the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC, the Consulate of Spain in San Francisco, and Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA) of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Additional support comes from Iberia Airlines, American Airlines, Eurochannel, and our exclusive wine sponsors, Martín Códax Albariño and Las Rocas Garnacha.

While cinema provides entertainment and escape, for many filmmakers and viewers it is a vital portal into the lives of others, a medium of engagement, and a powerful tool for social action. Tackling wide-ranging, thought-provoking issues, activist filmmakers help deepen our awareness of injustice, the values of dignity and equality, and the price of commitment as they tell universal stories of struggle and triumph. We hope that the informative and inspirational films presented in this year’s series will broaden understanding and stimulate involvement as they reveal the courage of individuals whose hearts and minds are focused on our many shared challenges.

Our special thanks go to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Portland Center for Public Humanities at Portland State University, World Affairs Council of Oregon, and other organizations worldwide who help bring important events, issues, and media works to light.

Thanks to our media sponsors KBOO Radio and The Portland Alliance.