‘With 20,000 Hispanic speakers craving for Hispanic culture, the launch of the first Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival was a no-brainer,’ says festival director Marian A. Aréchaga, ahead of its launch at the Filmhouse next week. In collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the University of Edinburgh, there will be screenings of 13 contemporary Spanish films and documentaries, as well as a series of talks, Q&A sessions and workshops from Wed 8 to Sun 12 Oct.

Highlights include the appearance of Andoni Aduriz (10 Oct), top chef at Mugaritz (recently voted sixth best restaurant in the world). Aduriz will present a screening of documentary Mugaritz BSO, exploring the link between music and food at the famed restaurant. ‘With our dishes we aim to provoke, to move, to invoke a revolution of the sense,’ he states, ‘and I cannot see any difference between this and the reason(s) that drive someone to compose a suite or to get up on stage to give a concert’. A Q&A session follows the viewing, as well as a cocktail tasting with Brugal Rum.

The festival opens on 8 Oct with the British premiere of In a Foreign Land, a documentary following the lives of three Spanish immigrants who moved to Edinburgh in light of their country’s current financial crisis. Award winning director Icíar Bollaín will present three screenings of the film (8, 9, 11 Oct) as well as a series of Q&As after the first two.

There will also be a screening of Goya award-winning animation Tad, the Lost Explorer for primary schools, followed by an animation workshop (8 Oct). Elsewhere, 15 Years and One Day, Spain’s entry for the Best Foreign Film Award at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the life of a difficult teenager and is to be shown specifically for secondary schools pupils (9, 10 Oct), with a ‘Teenagers in Spanish cinema’ talk on 9 Oct inviting students to participate in the dialogue.

Further highlights include Wounded’s (11, 12 Oct) Goya-winning director Fernando Franco discussing ‘Production and direction in cinema’ after its first showing, whilst a talk on ‘Women and sexuality in society’ is set to compliment feminist romantic comedy Born To Suffer (10 Oct) and documentary I Decide: The Train of Freedom (10 Oct).

Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, Filmhouse and The University of Edinburgh, 8–12 Oct.