These coming days will see the opening of a Kukuxumusu exhibition in the city of Regensburg. Our Kukuxumusu characters have packed their bags and have taken themselves off to the south of Germany, in Bavaria. For the moment, we do not know if they will be sharing some glasses of lager with Puigdemont, because their main responsibility lies in the cinema festival. The Regensburg CinEScultura Festival invited them to take part in their annual festival, although their initial reaction was to state “Pull the other leg!

In the city of Regensburg for more than a decade now, between April and May, the CinEScultura festival has been taking place and in which Kukuxumusu has been collaborating on more than one occasion, by illustrating their festival poster and their program schedule.

The CinEScultura is a low format festival but of high quality content to which some 10,000 people attend each year. Here, there is a selective exquisite flow of Spanish-speaking movies, with graphic artists from the peninsula and, of course, there has to be a place too for musicians and dancers, such as Niño de Elche, Silvia Pérez Cruz or Rosalía & Refree, just to mention a few of the most recent participants.

One of the main aims of the festival is to introduce some Spanish culture to the German people, and to generally promote a healthy exchange of Hispanic-German culture. In the case of the movies, it is also essential to translate the texts so that they can show German sub-titles. In the case of Spain, it is also essential to let this public know that there is more to Spain than just sun, beach, tapas, wine and a lot of fiesta. So a lot of cultural stimulation is going on and, at a laudably high level.

This year, coinciding with the XI edition, Kukuxumusu’s participation has been honed up more than ever: as, this year, the heart of the Festival contains cinema made by women, they asked us to design an exhibition with some of our favorite characters and their singular ironic view of the world, and that includes cinema, of course.

We have chosen quite a few drawings which tell some humorous ‘fem-orientated’ outlooks with wit and we also include some movie scenes. The exhibition will be open to the public in The Regensburg Municipal Library, from the 17th of April to the 27^th of May, 2018. If you have never been to this town, maybe this could be an opportunity to do so and it is well worth visiting: there is a medieval old quarter which has been given World Heritage recognition and there is also a lively university atmosphere (guaranteed fun scene) while, at the same time, the city gives off a relaxed peaceful scene with a population of less than 150.000 inhabitants, moving at a leisurely pace in the springtime season.

Pedro Álvarez Olañeta, a professor at the Center for Hispanic Studies in the University of Regensburg, is the person who directs this Festival. Around him he has an enthusiastic team of young students from many different places and cultures who are united in their love of cinema and their passion for all things Spanish.

The Festival favors new work and many first time film directors who are still unknown to the general public get their first chance here to make an impact. So, this year in the Ópera Prima (Debut Movie) section, nine new films will be shown, five of them made by women, as it has been possible to achieve parity. Among these, the award-winning “Verano 1993” (Summer ’93), from Carla Simón stands out and which, if you have not yet seen it, is highly recommended.

A novelty for this present edition is the creation of a new section under the banner Prima Donna, with the aim of highlighting seven contemporary films directed by Spanish-speaking women and this has been achieved thanks to a joint collaboration with CIMA, The Women’s – Association of Cinema and Audiovisual Media. It president, Virginia Yagüe, will officially open the festival on the 28th of April, thus bringing the #MÁSMUJERES, recognition claim to Germany which was launched at the last ceremony of the Goya Awards, and which will be underscored in Germany as #MEHRFRAUEN.

¡Ah! Of course, among so many movies there is one which cannot be ignored -“La Librería” (The Bookshop) from Isabel Coixet. She explained at the Goya awards ceremony that she got the idea to appear in pajamas “so as to highlight the inequality, the harassment and the tyranny that the red carpet creates for woman on occasions such as the Goya awards “, but her idea did not receive the support of many other women from the world of cinema. But here at Kukuxumusu, we like her idea a lot and we have designed a pajama and some chemises that are pretty far out so that the women can put them on at the next, Oscar’s, Goya, The Berlinale or wherever. Even if it is only to make an exhibition of themselves! Do you think they would dare to do it? We will soon have them on sale in the latest pajama collection from Kukuxumusu, and here you have a little preview.