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Gandules

Gandules'18

Illuminated cinema: Magic, altered states and the occult

Magic, altered states and the occult: three ways to illuminate and celebrate in dark times. This year, the CCCB’s summer film season brings us nine films that posit illumination as a means to enthuse and enlighten us selected by art critic Mery Cuesta and organised to coincide with the exhibition “Black Light”.

We’re undergoing a reappraisal of mystical, esoteric and spiritual traditions. This may be due to a need to believe there are other types of experience outside the increasingly bleak “reality” that surrounds us.

The first three screenings of “Gandules’18” focus on magic and the ghostly, and seek to recapture the spirit of early cinema as a magical event, but also as the ideal terrain to portray a supernatural world. The films are peopled by deadly spirits that appear at midnight, demons summoned up through occult manuscripts, and conventional ghosts.

Mental illumination is the next strand in the concept of illumination. Throughout history, individuals have turned to certain natural and chemical substances as a passport to states of consciousness and perception that are detached from reality. The next three screenings invite us on three trips: the first is a trip in the literal sense that takes us across the world in search of high-impact ritual practices; the second brings us a transpersonal experience with distortional overtones that ends in the deepest despair. Our last trip takes us back to Spain in the 1970s to show the vampire-like power of drugs and the medium of film.

After these induced illuminations, we’ll end the season with a call to spiritual illumination, which arises from coexistence with the different threads in the vast field of mysticism and occultism. Our programme concludes with three films that illustrate different beliefs: the first refers to a particular form of worship among ancient civilisations that has led to the concept of a new society based on sexual magic. The next screening takes an in-depth look at vampire rituals in African-American culture and the last examines witchcraft as a practice on the rise today within feminism. Let’s start up the projector and turn on the light!

From the 7th to 23th of August, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 22.00 at Pati de les Dones. Free entrance. In case of rain, the session will move to the Hall of CCCB.

Share your songs about magic and mental and spiritual illumination: take part in #Gandules18!

Help us create the soundtrack for this new summer film season. Share the title of a song on the social media networks using the hashtag #Gandules18. We will add it to the Spotify list Màgia, lisèrgia i ocultisme – Gandules’18 which will be playing every evening before the screening.

Between us we’ll create this summer’s top illuminated songs list!

This activity is part of Gandules

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Gandules'18 - Illuminated cinema: Magic, altered states and the occult

From 7 to 23 August, the CCCB’s summer film season brings us nine films that posit illumination as a means to enthuse and enlighten us. Free entrance. 

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