Volume 9, Issue 12 / December 2005

Agustin Villaronga

Offscreen has (largely) resisted the temptation to say au revoir to 2005 with the usual “end of the year” best/worst lists. The only such piece is from Peter Rist, whose many (and I mean many) hours spent in darkened theatres qualifies him as “our” person for the job. Rist gives us his overview of the best films to have screened in Montreal during 2005. Rather than going with the obvious, the final issue of 2005 has a “Spanish” bent, with two articles focusing on the “marginalised” Spanish auteur, Agustin (or Agusti) Villaronga, whose controversial film In a Glass Cage was his own “Peeping Tom,” the great and infamous film whose notoriety in the British media at its release practically destroyed Michael Powell’s career. Roberto Curti, a specialist in Spanish horror, was guest editor of a special ‘Dossier’ on Spanish horror, “Sangre y Deseo,” published by the excellent Italian film magazine Nocturno. Offscreen is pleased to present an overview of his troubled career by Roberto Curti, and an in-depth analysis of his arguably most important film, In a Glass Cage. Up next is Betty Kaklamanidou’s report on the increasingly important International Film Festival of Thessaloniki. Rounding out the issue is Daniel Garrett’s review essay “Wealth and Welfare” which links together no less than 13 films around the theme of “people, places, and politics, and, in its scope, fits in well (though not by design) as a “year in review” piece.