Volume 9, Issue 12 / December 2005
Agustin Villaronga

In this issue
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Another Time, Another Place The horrific, the fantastic and the fairy-like in the films of Agustín Villaronga
Spain's Enfant Terrible
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Reflections in a Glass Cage
From Primitive to Modern Violence
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Montreal, 2005: the Film Year in Review
The Best of Montreal
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46th International Film Festival of Thessaloniki, Greece: (TIFF 18 – 27, November 2005)
The Festival of Daring Young Filmmakers
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Wealth and Welfare: Louisiana films, and Be Cool, Guess Who, Elizabethtown, Loggerheads, 9 Songs, Cote D’Azur, 2046, Red Eye, Thumbsucker, Proof, and Good Night, and Good Luck, with Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death and The Gospel
Particular people, places, and politics
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.