1.
Barcelona
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Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. Barcelona has a cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre. Particularly renowned are the works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona, the city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. It is a cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union, in 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion, it is leading Spain in both employment rate and GDP per capita change. In 2009 the city was ranked Europes third and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand, since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. During the Middle Ages, the city was known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelonaa. Internationally, Barcelonas name is abbreviated to Barça. However, this refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna, another common abbreviation is BCN, which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The city is referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan. The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear, the ruins of an early settlement have been excavated in the El Raval neighbourhood, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends, the first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum centred on the Mons Taber, under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens, the city minted its own coins, some from the era of Galba survive. Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have founded in 343
2.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
3.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
4.
L'Auditori
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LAuditori is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The building combines sober external modernity with Sala 1 Pau Casals for 2,200 spectators, Sala 2 Oriol Martorell, with 600 places and Sala 3 Tete Montoliu with 400 places. In the central atrium, a monumental cubic glass light has been built in the shape of an impluvium. The acoustics of the halls has been studied within the project by the specialised engineer Higini Arau. In the same complex, there are the centres of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. This makes the Auditori a focus of life in the city in the different fields of divulgation, teaching. List of theatres and concert halls in Barcelona List of concert halls Webpage of the lAuditori
5.
Antonia San Juan
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Antonia San Juan is a Spanish actress, director and screenwriter. She was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, at 19 she went to Madrid, where she started working as a professional theatre actress and also as a cabaret act in pubs and bars. She became known thanks to her role as Agrado in Todo sobre mi madre by Pedro Almodóvar and she is well known in Spain not only because of her film career but also for her humorous monologues on television and theatre. Since 2009 she has been acting in the popular Spanish TV series La que se avecina, antonia San Juan at the Internet Movie Database Official Page
6.
All About My Mother
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All About My Mother is a 1999 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz and Candela Peña. The film deals with issues such as AIDS, homosexuality, transsexualism, faith. The film also won 6 Goya Awards including Best Film, Best Director, the film centers on Manuela, an Argentine nurse who oversees donor organ transplants in Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid and single mother to Esteban, a teenager who wants to be a writer. Manuela has to agree with her colleagues at work that her sons heart be transplanted to a man in A Coruña, in Barcelona, Manuela reunites with her old friend Agrado, a warm and witty transsexual prostitute. Rosa dies giving birth to her son, and Lola and Manuela finally reunite at Rosas funeral, Lola, who is dying from AIDS, talks about how she always wanted a son, and Manuela tells her about her own Esteban and how he died in an accident. Manuela then adopts Esteban, Rosas child, and stays with him at Rosas parents house, the father does not understand who Manuela is, and Rosas mother says its the new cook, who is living there with her son. Rosas father then asks Manuela her age and height, Manuela introduces Esteban to Lola and gives her a picture of their own Esteban. Rosas mother spots them from the street and then confronts Manuela about letting strangers see the baby, Manuela tells her that Lola is Estebans father, Rosas mother is appalled and says, That is the monster that killed my daughter. Manuela flees back to Madrid with Esteban, she cannot take living at Rosas house any longer and she writes a letter to Huma and Agrado saying that she is leaving and once again is sorry for not saying goodbye, like she did years before. Two years later, Manuela returns with Esteban to an AIDS convention, telling Huma and Agrado, who now run a show together. She then says she is returning to stay with Estebans grandparents, when Manuela asks Huma about Nina, Huma becomes melancholic and leaves. Agrado tells Manuela that Nina went back to her town, got married, Huma then rejoins the conversation briefly before exiting the dressing room to go perform. To men who act and become women, to all the people who want to be mothers. Almodovar recreates the accident scene from John Cassavetes Opening Night as the epicenter of the dramatic conflict, the film was mainly shot on location in Barcelona. The film premiered in Spain on 8 April 1999 and went into theatrical release on 16 April. It eventually grossed €9,962,047 in Spain, $8,272,296 in the US and she added, Its the crossover moment in the career of a born four-hankie storyteller of ever-increasing stature. Look out, Hollywood, here he comes, Almodóvars earlier films sometimes seemed to be manipulating the characters as an exercise. Here the plot does handstands in its eagerness to use coincidence, surprise, but the characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodóvar has finally taken pity on them – has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they are real enough to hurt
7.
Francisco Rabal
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Francisco Rabal, perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain. In 1936, after the Spanish Civil War broke out, Rabal and his family left Murcia, young Francisco had to work as a street salesboy and in a chocolate factory. When he was 13 years old, he left school to work as an electrician at Estudios Chamartín, Rabal got some sporadic jobs as an extra. Dámaso Alonso and other people advised him to try his luck with a career in theater, during the following years, he got some roles in theater companies such as Lope de Vega or María Guerrero. It was there that he met actress Asunción Balaguer, they married and remained together for the rest of Rabals life and their daughter, Teresa Rabal, is also an actress. In 1947, Rabal got some jobs in theater. He used his name, Francisco Rabal, as stage name. However, the people who knew him called him Paco Rabal. Paco Rabal became his stage name. During the 1940s, Rabal began acting in movies as an extra, but it was not until 1950 that he was first cast in speaking roles and he starred in three films directed by Luis Buñuel - Nazarín, Viridiana and Belle de jour. William Friedkin thought of Rabal for the French villain of his 1971 movie The French Connection, however, he could not remember the name of that Spanish actor. Mistakenly, his staff hired another Spanish actor, Fernando Rey, Friedkin discovered that Rabal did not speak English or French, so he decided to keep Rey. Rabal had previously worked with Rey in Viridiana, Rabal did, however, work with Friedkin in the much less successful but Academy Award-nominated cult classic Sorcerer, a remake of The Wages of Fear. It is widely considered that Rabals best performances came after Francisco Francos death in 1975. In the 1980s, Rabal starred in Los santos inocentes, winning the Award as Best Actor in Cannes Film Festival, in El Disputado Voto del Señor Cayo, in 1989, he was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. In the 1999 he played the character of Francisco Goya in Carlos Saura Goya en Burdeos, Francisco Rabal is the only Spanish actor to have received an honoris causa doctoral degree from the University of Murcia. Rabals final movie was Dagon directed by Stuart Gordon, the film, which was released after his death in 2001, was dedicated to him. The dedication, which appeared before the end credits, read, Dedicated to Francisco Rabal, Rabal died in 2001 from compensatory dilating emphysema, while on an airplane travelling to Bordeaux, when he was coming back from receiving an Award at Montreal Film Festival
8.
Cecilia Roth
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Cecilia Roth is an Argentine actress. She is the winner of two Goya Awards and a European Film Award and she is known for being an Almodóvar girl and the muse of Fito Páez during the 1990s. Roths father, Abrasha Rotenberg, is a Ukrainian of Jewish origin who moved in the 1930s to Buenos Aires, where he worked as a writer, editor, cecilias mother, the singer Dina Rot, was born in Mendoza and spent her childhood in Santiago de Chile. Her brother, Argentine musician Ariel Rot, is a member of the band Los Rodríguez. Roth was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina into a Jewish family and she began as an actress in Argentina, until 1976 when she fled the military dictatorship and moved to Spain. Roth has had success in Spanish film since her first appearances in Las verdes praderas, by José Luis Garci, Arrebato, by Iván Zulueta. Roths most prominent movies include Un lugar en el mundo and Martín and she is also well known for her leading role in Todo sobre mi madre, by Almodóvar. Roth won Goya Awards for Best Actress with both directors, Roth has also made noteworthy appearances in numerous television series, including the soap operas Por amor, together with Arnaldo André and Marita Ballesteros, and Nueve lunas. She also appeared in the mini-series Laura y Zoe together with Susú Pecoraro, Epitafios with Julio Chávez and Leonardo Sbaraglia and she was first married to Gonzalo Gil, then later married to Argentine singer-songwriter Fito Páez for some years, with whom she adopted a child, Martín. Joaquin Sabina composed the song Cecilia for Roth and Páez, the song is a passionate love letter to Roth that describes their relationship. Roth also had a relationship with young Argentine actor Gonzalo Heredia until 2010, in addition to her career in film and television, Roth has also worked in theater in Argentina, as well as in Spain. She is currently working, together with Darío Grandinetti, on the Philippe Blasband play, sant Jordi Award for Todo sobre mi madre. Epitafios Cecilia Roth at the Internet Movie Database Cecilia Roth at Cinenacional. com
