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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
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Sarah Polley
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Sarah Ellen Polley OC is a Canadian actress, writer, director and political activist. Polley first garnered attention for her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series Road to Avonlea. She has starred in feature films, including Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Guinevere, Go, The Weight of Water, My Life Without Me, Dawn of the Dead, Splice. Polleys second film, Take This Waltz, premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and her film Stories We Tell is a feature-length documentary. It had its premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. The Toronto Film Critics Association awarded it the $100,000 prize for best Canadian film of the year, Polley was born in Toronto, Ontario. She is the youngest of five born to Diane Elizabeth. Polley was raised by Diane and her husband, Michael Polley. Her siblings are Mark and Joanna, both older, and, from her mothers first marriage, Susy and John Buchan and her mother Diane had Scottish ancestry. During her childhood, Polleys siblings often teased Polley because she bore no resemblance to Michael. Polley discovered as an adult that her father was actually Harry Gulkin. When Polley turned 18, she decided to follow up on suggestions from her mothers friends that her father might be Geoff Bowes—one of three castmates from her mothers play in Montreal. Meeting with Gulkin as just someone who could provide information about Diane in Montreal, bowes and Michael Polley also confirmed, in Stories We Tell, that they had sexual relations with Diane during the run of the Montreal play. Gulkins paternity was later confirmed by a DNA test, Polley attended Subway Academy II, then Earl Haig Secondary School, but dropped out at age 15. Her first cinematic appearance was at the age of four, as Molly in the Disney film One Magic Christmas. She was also in the episode for Friday the 13th – The Series, as well as appearing in a small role in William Fruets sci-fi horror film Blue Monkey. At age eight, she was cast as Ramona Quimby in the television series Ramona and that same year, she played one of the lead characters in Terry Gilliams The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Polley burst into the eye the following year,1990
3.
Diego Luna
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Diego Luna Alexander is a Mexican actor, producer and director. After starring in early in his career, he has appeared in many films, including Y tu mamá también, Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights, Rudo y Cursi. He also provided the Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations, Fiona died in a car accident when Luna was two years old. She had worked in the industry and made sure that this was a life in which Luna would be immersed. His father also reinforced the importance of theatre and the arts in his life. When Luna was a child, his father would bring him to the sets and mentor him in different aspects of art, furthering in him a desire to become an actor, from an early age, Luna began acting in television, film and stage. His next role was in the telenovela El Abuelo y Yo with his childhood best friend, in 1995, he played the role of Laura Leóns troubled son Quique in the Mexican soap opera El premio mayor. Luna and García Bernal starred in the acclaimed film Y tu mamá también. Luna has made a name for himself in the United States market, having starred alongside Jon Bon Jovi in Vampires, Los Muertos and he also starred in Open Range, Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights, The Terminal and Criminal. In 2008, he starred in the Harvey Milk biopic Milk as his emotionally unstable lover, in 2011, Luna played the male lead in Katy Perrys music video for The One That Got Away. In June 2012, he began directing his first English-language film Cesar Chávez, a biopic about the life of the American labor leader, who founded the United Farm Workers. During the same year, Luna and Bernal starred together for the fourth time, on 20 March 2015, he joined the cast for Ana Lily Amirpours cannibal film The Bad Batch. In 2016, he was a member of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and he played Cassian Andor in the Star Wars spin-off anthology film Rogue One. Luna married Camila Sodi on 5 February 2008 and they had a son, Jerónimo, and a daughter, Fiona, naming after Lunas mother. They announced their separation in March 2013 and later divorced and he and García Bernal co-founded Ambulante A. C. their organization and film festival that works to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely shown. Ambulante was awarded the prestigious Washington Office on Latin America Human Rights Award in 2011, Diego Luna at the Internet Movie Database Diego Luna on Twitter
4.
Take My Eyes
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Take My Eyes is a 2003 Spanish romantic drama film directed by Icíar Bollaín, starring Laia Marull and Luis Tosar. This film was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category Best Iberoamerican Film. Pilar, a housewife living in Toledo, gathers a few belongings one night. They find shelter with Pilars sister, Ana, who is soon to marry her Scottish live-in boyfriend, Pilars husband, Antonio, tries to make her change her mind, but she is tired and fearful of his abusive behavior. Determined to start a new life on her own, Pilar sends her sister to retrieve her belongings from the apartment she shared with her estranged husband, once there, Ana discovers through medical bills that her sister has also been physically abused by Antonio. When he arrives, they have a confrontation, Antonio still loves his wife, but he cannot control his short temper and violent outbursts. Trying to bring Pilar back, he joins an anger management group of married men who want to change their behavior towards their wives. With her sisters encouragement, Pilar finds a job in the shop of a local tourist attraction. Pilar begins to study in order to become a tour guide, despite Anas protests, her mother Aurora invites Antonio to Juans birthday party. Pilar still loves Antonio despite his abusive behavior, Juan misses his father and Pilar begins to soften her attitude towards her husband. When they have a chance to talk, Antonio tells her he wants to change and is enrolled in group therapy and he has to learn to deal with his frustration as a salesman in an appliance store. Pilar soon warms up to him again, and they begin to sneak out for secret meetings, Pilar, with the full support of her mother, takes Antonio to Anas wedding. The two sisters argue after Pilar tells Ana that she is going back to her husband, at first Pilar and Antonio are happy to be back together. Encouraged by his wife, Antonio continues with his anger management therapy, but, he feels threatened by Pilars economic independence as she continues to work in the gift shop. Pilar applies for a job as a guide in a museum in Madrid. They would have to leave Toledo and live in Madrid, but Antonio is afraid to move, Pilars efforts to convince him that if she gets the job and they move to Madrid it would be beneficial fall on deaf ears. The day of her job interview, as a coworker is waiting for her outside the flat to take her there and he tears off Pilars clothes and locks her stark naked in the balcony for all the neighbors to see. After this humiliation, Pilar threatens to leave Antonio, who responds by attempting suicide by cutting, after this final assault, Pilar leaves Antonio for good
5.
Luis Tosar
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Luis López Tosar is a Spanish actor and musician. He is one of the most recognizable and versatile actors in Spain, best known for the movies Celda 211, Te doy mis ojos, Mientras duermes, También la lluvia and he has a music group called Di Elas. Born in Lugo, Galicia, Spain on 13 October 1971 and he began his career playing theater and shorts, but he became famous in Galicia by his performance in 1998 TV Series Mareas Vivas. His only major role in an American film was Michael Manns Miami Vice, starring Colin Farrell and he has also won the Málaga Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 Málaga Spanish Film Festival
6.
Laia Marull
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Laia Marull Quintana is a Spanish actress. She has won three Goya Awards — Best New Actress for Fugitives, Best Actress for Take My Eyes and she was also nominated for European Film Award for Best Actress for Take My Eyes. Marull is known for her work on film, television and stage, Marull was born as Laia Marull Quintana on 4 January 1973 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She began her career in an amateurish theatre, Marull is fluent in Spanish, Catalan and French, and has performed in all these languages. Marull is good friends with Canadian actress Sandra Oh and she stated she would like to work with Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who had won five Goya Awards and an Academy Award. Laia Marull at the Internet Movie Database
7.
My Life Without Me
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My Life Without Me is a 2003 Canadian drama film directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, and Leonor Watling. Based on the book Pretending the Bed Is a Raft by Nanci Kincaid, it tells a story of a 23-year-old woman, with a husband, the film was produced by Pedro Almodóvars production company, El Deseo. Ann is a hard-working 23-year-old mother with two daughters, an unemployed husband, a mother who sees her life as a failure. Her life changes dramatically when, during a medical checkup following a collapse, she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Deciding not to anyone of her condition and using the cover of anemia. She decides to change her hair, record birthday messages for the girls for every year until theyre 18, and tries to set up her husband with another woman. Feeling a longing to experience a life that was never available to her and her experiment ends up taking an emotional toll when she meets with a man named Lee, who ends up madly in love with her and is left heartbroken when Ann breaks up. He meets with her one last time and says that he will do anything to make her happy, taking care of her daughters and she ends their relationship and never tells him that she is dying. At the end of the film, Ann records a message to her husband, telling him that she loves him and she then leaves all tapes that she has recorded with her doctor, asking him to deliver them after her death. Sarah Polley as Ann Scott Speedman as Don, Anns husband Mark Ruffalo as Lee, thompson Alfred Molina as Anns Father My Life Without Me received generally positive reviews from film critics. As of December 2011, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has scored a 65% rating, with a rating of 6.3 out of 10. The film won international and festival awards, including the Genie Award for Best Actress, the Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was released on September 26,2003 and ran for 12 weeks and it grossed $400,948 in the USA and $9,326,006 from markets in other countries, for a worldwide total of $9,726,954. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16 and my Life Without Me at the Internet Movie Database My Life Without Me at Box Office Mojo
8.
The 4th Floor (2003 film)
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Planta 4ª is a 2003 Spanish film directed by Antonio Mercero and starring Juan José Ballesta, Alejandro Zafra, Gorka Moreno, Luis Ángel Priego, and Monti Castiñeiras. It was nominated for Best Picture in the 2004 Goya Awards, a group of seriously ill boys live on the fourth floor of a hospital. The floor is their home and the patients their family. Miguel Ángel is the leader of the group, recently arrived Jorge is fearfully awaiting his test results and Dani is experiencing his first love affair
