Madrid

Running time: N/A

North American Premiere. Madrid is a gorgeous and elegant film that generates a unique brilliance through its haunting mixture of delicate ambiance, stunning, graceful cinematography and subtle emotional resonance. In Isabel's veins flow the heat and passion of Spain, the land of her ancestors. By day, an assistant manager at a local grocery store, she lives in a suburban German town, spending her evenings discouraged by her love life. After losing one ungrateful young man, Isobel is initially intrigued by the handsome businessman, Manuel, who has taken up shop in the building across from her store. Half Spanish, half German, ambitious, aiming for goals he cannot yet reach, rugged yet sensitive, Manuel knows women. And he knows when the right one comes along. Fueled by desire, Isobel is taken in quickly but soon begins to re-think her decision as his demands upon her increase rapidly. Forced to make weighty choices with a man she barely knows, Isobel finds herself with no one to whom to turn. In her most exasperating moments, she finds solace in the memory of her childhood in Madrid and the sound of her homeland's music which fires her soul. Greek-born German director Daphne Charizani sensitively explores the meeting of two people of mixed cultures who are forced to draw their own, unique roadmap of life and love. - Jennifer Glynn