Castles in Spain

This dryly-humorous portrait focuses on a father whose suitcase is always packed and ready for departure to Spain, the El Dorado for favourable conditions for survival. His daughter is the director of this film, and she decides to test her Jewish family’s idealized characterization of Spain during a trip there together. Told like an old western, this burlesque tale takes on an impressive range of subjects, from the importance of languages, repressed Eastern European Jewish heritage and the Almeria movie studio to the remarkable non-kosher portion of Spanish cuisine and a cameo by the camel from Lawrence of Arabia. The building blocks of the film include interviews in which the father sings Spain’s praises, observations from their journey through Spain, picture postcards and moments from For a Few Dollars More. In voice-over, director Pauline Horovitz describes the impact of her family’s history on her own life. As well as the female voice singing "padadapampam" – which adds a gawky sense of vulnerability echoing Miranda July’s work – the jaunty soundtrack includes tunes such as "Me olvidé de vivir" by Julio Iglesias. But beneath this layer of frivolity lies a tragic past that has been concealed as part of the family’s survival strategy. The film is dedicated to family members murdered during the Second World War. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)