Life in Cartagena

Alex de la Iglesia is a well known Spanish film director and also the current president of the Spanish equivalent of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. His new film La Chispa de la Vida or Spark of Life, or at least a part of it, is going to be shot in Cartagena and the recruitment of extras has been going on in the city for the last couple of days. We'd heard about the queues of people waiting patiently to be one of the 1,000 people chosen so we went to have a look and there they were standing patiently outside the Palacio Molina.

You presumably know the film. All star cast headed up by Gordon Scott, made in 1964 I think. Last night, at the local archaeological museum there was a free screening of this quite remarkable Italian film dubbed into Spanish. It was free so we were there. In fact we were the only people there when the film began at its advertised start time of 9.45pm though there may have been as many as thirty in the audience as we sneaked away after thirty minutes of wobbling scenery, hackneyed script and wooden acting. Good idea though with a museum based on a Roman necropolis screening a film with a Roman plot. Maybe they'll have something a bit better next time.

Outside the Ramón Alonso Luzzy Cultural Centre there were big posters advertising the 38th International Festival of Cinema in Cartagena. Coloured spotlights shone onto the brickwork of the building. Inside though the building was still and quiet. The security guard seated at a small table just inside the main door glanced up momentarily before returning to his paperwork. This wasn't quite what I'd expected. The publicity said that entrance was free to all the films but there was a warning note "to the capacity of the auditorium." I had taken this to mean turn up early if you want a seat. And turn up early I had, about 40 minutes before kick off. I retreated, I knew a bar just round the corner where the coffee was cheap and good and, as I wasn't driving, I had a stiffener too. I went back with about twenty minutes before the advertised start. The place was still pretty quiet but people were moving about. I followed a group who seemed to know where they were goin...