North American Premiere
Reserve your ticket and start watching through October 22. You will have 48 hours to complete once you begin watching.
Access to Cine Latino en casa/At Home is geo-restricted to viewers in Minnesota and a MN billing address is required to purchase a ticket.
About The Painting
Your ticket includes a special recorded Q&A with Director Andrés Sanz following the film.
The massive painting rests in its own grand chamber at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, undoubtedly one of the most studied, debated, analyzed and scrutinized works ever created. In it, a golden-haired Infanta Margarita, daughter of King Philip IV and his second wife Mariana, stands bottom-center, staring calmly at the viewer while surrounded by her entourage. One of two attendants serves the young royal a cup of water as a pair of court dwarves, a dog and a mysterious chamberlain likewise peer out to the viewer. Her parents watch the scene unfold from a curiously placed mirror as the painter himself, Diego Velasquez, peeks out expectantly from behind his easel…yet why is the artist himself in the portrait? Is that mysterious chamberlain coming or going? And is the viewer watching a moment in time or being watched themselves? This is Velasquez’ 1656 masterpiece Las Meninas, ostensibly just another work in the long tradition of royal portraiture yet one that has spawned endless debate and theorizing in the three centuries since its creation. Using intricate stop-motion animation and testimonials from decorated--and highly opinionated--scholars and historians, writer/director Andrés Sanz in his feature debut, reveals the secret story of a painting unveiled as if it was the resolution of a perfect crime.
La pintura masiva descansa en su propia gran cámara en el Museo Nacional del Prado de Madrid, sin duda una de las obras más estudiadas, debatidas, analizadas y escrutadas jamás creadas. En él, una infanta Margarita de cabellos dorados, hija del rey Felipe IV y su segunda esposa Mariana, se encuentra en la parte inferior central, mirando con calma al espectador mientras está rodeada por su séquito. Uno de los dos asistentes le sirve a la Infanta real un vaso de agua mientras un par de enanos de la corte, un perro y un misterioso chambelán también miran al espectador. Sus padres ven cómo se desarrolla la escena reflejados en un espejo curiosamente ubicado en el cuadro y el pintor mismo Diego Velásquez, se asoma expectante desde detrás de su caballete ... pero ¿por qué está el propio artista en el retrato? ¿Ese misterioso chambelán va o viene? ¿Y el espectador está mirando un momento en el tiempo o está siendo observado desde el cuadro? Las Meninas realizada en 1656, es la obra maestra de Velásquez, aparentemente solo otra obra sobre una familia real, pero que ha generado un debate y teorización interminables en los tres siglos desde su creación. Utilizando una brillante animación stop-motion y testimonios de académicos e historiadores, el multifacético director, guionista, editor y animador, Andrés Sanz en su debut cinematográfico revela la historia secreta de una pintura como si fuera la resolución de un crimen perfecto.
Recommended for Ages 10+
Director Biography
Andrés Sanz (Madrid, 1969) Bachelor of Fine Arts (UCM), studied film at the University of North Carolina (Greensboro) and master’s degree at San Francisco Art Institute. He has directed publicity and produced many short films, including Bedford, shown in the exhibition The Shadow of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. He collaborated with Isabella Rossellini in his tenth short film Flat Love. He created the video installation Infinite Garden, a special order from the Prado Museum.
Sponsored By:
In this year when we cannot gather in person, and when you, our valued audience, cannot come to Cine Latino, Cine Latino will come to you - as CINE LATINO AT HOME / EN CASA! Cine Latino, the region’s only showcase of Latin American and Ibero cinema, features a rich tapestry of narrative and documentary films from across the globe from some of the world’s most acclaimed and up-and-coming Spanish- and Portuguese-language filmmakers.