WeBarcelona Newsletter

Sant Jordi postponed, strange. The busy streets a year ago, empty yesterday. July 23 is the date chosen for them to be filled with books and roses. It is unknown how we will be moving among them. Soon, very soon a timid de-escalation of confinement begins in Spain, so we release the newsletter (timidly too) and return to the traditional format but with online events, or with events that will be held on dates that represent the end to the pandemic or its control by new security measures or by the appearance of the long-awaited medicine or vaccine. We hope that you and yours are well, and our sincere condolences to those who have lost a loved one.

We get used, first, to telematic relations with "10,000 km". Then we went straight to terror with "REC: Película". From there we started the de-escalation with a thriller, "The Machinist", and now we continue to de-escalate to land in the comedy with "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", a Spanish-American co-production directed by Woody Allen in 2008.

Brad Anderson's 2004 film set in California, but shot entirely in Barcelona and other towns in the province such as Badalona, Sant Adrià del Besòs, El Prat and Sabadell. From Barcelona you will recognize the famous Ferris wheel of the El Tibidabo amusement park. Other attractions also appear but with more appropriate names for the Californian setting, such as a terror train called Route 666. The film, produced in Spain and written by Scott Kosar, stars Christian Bale (who won the Best Actor award at the Festival de Sitges), Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Sharian, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Michael Ironside.

A horror film. Although it may not seem the most appropriate for these moments, movies in this genre can bring benefits to viewers. According to a study at the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom in which they monitored various levels of 10 people before and after watching horror movies, it was observed, for example, that The Radiance consumes 184 calories, Shark 161 and The Exorcist 158. How many will burn with REC? In the same study, it was also concluded that movies like REC increase adrenaline production, causing a chain reaction that improves the immune system. Don't jump into watching horror movies and think you're immune to COVID-19!

It surely happened to you. We live with a sense of unreality, fiction or directly science fiction. Some expert says that the important thing is to perceive this situation of confinement as something temporary and that if our mind, dejected or surrendered, happens to feel it as normal, the return to daily life will be harder. So we propose an immersion in real fiction, that of cinema and literature, and as Fernando Savater says, we turn day to day into a game: suppose that confinement or dodging others in the supermarket is a game, just like the Syrian father who made the bombings a game for his son. And so that the desire for Barcelona does not pass you, it is better that fiction has a relationship with our city. While the confinement lasts, while events cannot be organized, we will propose you a film and a book that take place in Barcelona or that are, in some way, related to our city. We will also propose you an event (online, of course) and as a bonus a musical theme.

The International Vintage Car Rally Barcelona-SitgesThe 62ndt edition of the Barcelona-Sitges International Car Rally arrives. A rally where aesthetics is more important than speed. Old cars of emblematic brands such as Rolls Royce, Hispano-Suiza, Citroën, Ford, Fiat, Renault, Peugeot, Buick, Chevrolet or Alcyon, will circulate in the streets of Barcelona in the direction of Sitges. The rally starts at the Plaza de Sant Jaume in Barcelona and continues through the streets of Barcelona, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà de Llobregat, C-245 road, C-246 road (Costas del Garraf) and ends with a parade through the streets of Sitges and a contest of elegance. The total journey is 40 kilometers and participants come from all over Spain and other countries.

Antonio Banderas presents: A Chorus Line, in BarcelonaA Chorus Line, one of the most important musicals of all time, comes to Barcelona from Antonio Banderas. An inspiring musical, exciting, and with an electrifying choreography that originally premiered in 1975 at the Shubert Theater on Broadway, with a libretto by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. Directed by Michael Bennett, who also created the choreographies with Bob Avian, it became an unprecedented success by winning nine Tony Awards and the theater Pulitzer. The original production was represented for 15 years.

Americana FIlm Festival | North American independent cinemaThe Americana FIlm Festival of Northamerican Independent Cinema will celebrate its seventh edition from March 3 to 8, 2020 at the Cinemes Girona in Barcelona and at the Cinemes Zumzeig. The Americana is an indispensable festival in which you can watch movies that usually do not reach our screens. The opening will be on Tuesday, March 3 at the Phenomena movie theater with the film "Saint Frances" (directed by Alex Thompson), which has received the Audience Award at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival, and in the rest of the festivals in which has been screened.

Sónar BarcelonaThe Sónar festival reaches its 27th edition in 2020 and returns to its usual June dates with a program that brings together heroes of contemporary clubbing and cutting-edge electronics, and emerging figures from the trap and urban rhythms around the world. In Sónar 2020, the expected electronic show of the year by The Chemical Brothers stands out; the only exclusive concert in 2020 of the French duo THE BLAZE; the spectacular show of Swedish DJ and progressive house producer Eric Prydz; and the return to the DESPACIO clubbing festival with James Murphy and 2manydjs. In the DJs section, the festival brings us to the first international division: Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Helena Hauff, Âme, Laurent Garnier, Joy Orbison, Avalon Emerson, Charlotte de Witte, 2manydjs, The Black Madonna and the cosmic and multidisciplinary project Lost Souls Of Saturn, which unites one of the world's most popular DJs, Seth Troxler, with respected New York sound engineer Phil Moffa.

Llum BCNThe Llum BCN festival, held for the third year in the Poblenou quarter, is a circuit of light installations that combine art and technology. Large state-of-the-art buildings, chimneys of old factories, industrial buildings and some sites will change thanks to the expressive capacity of light. This festival is conceived as a large outdoor experimentation laboratory. It shows us the work of artists, designers and architects from all over the world who are exploring the possibilities offered by new techniques such as dynamic lighting, interactive environments, large-scale projection, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Llum BCN is full of secrets, surprises and images that you will hardly see again.