Film Meets Music Video in Cineteca Madrid’s June Lineup
> The CineZeta team also puts sound center stage with their Total Sound Machine series
> A special film selection marks 30 years since Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise trilogy began
> A focus on French director Bertrand Bonello includes three screenings and a masterclass
> The tribute to Fassbinder’s 80th anniversary continues with a second installment exploring his influence and legacy
> Sunday morning family classics and recent premieres round out a rich program full of regular feature sections
Cineteca Madrid, part of the Department of Culture, Tourism, and Sports of the Madrid City Council, devotes its June program to the intersections between image and sound, in line with Matadero Madrid’s European Music Day celebrations (DEMM25). The lineup spotlights the music video as an art form (visual music), music as a narrative device, and listening as a form of presence. The program also includes tributes to Fassbinder, selected works by Richard Linklater and Bertrand Bonello, and films that celebrate diversity for Pride Month.
“Film and Music Video: A Crossroads of Language”
Since the MTV boom of the 1980s and the iconic phrase "Video Killed the Radio Star," the music video has radically reshaped how we understand music, see images, and convey emotion. Despite early skepticism from traditional critics, the format cemented itself as a space for aesthetic and emotional experimentation, blending cinematic, advertising, fashion, and contemporary art languages. Far from being confined to music, its influence has shaped an entire generation of filmmakers who drew inspiration from its visual dynamism to innovate editing, storytelling, and composition.
The cycle Film and Music Video: A Crossroads of Language, curated and presented by Felipe Rodríguez Torres, offers a deep dive into this audiovisual revolution through a selection of films that embody this hybrid form. Titles include Purple Rain (USA, 1984) by Albert Magnoli, Streets of Fire (USA, 1984) by Walter Hill, and Romeo + Juliet (USA-Mexico-Australia-Canada, 1996) by Baz Luhrmann—films that show how music video aesthetics breathed new narrative, emotional, and visual energy into cinema. Also featured is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (USA, 2004) by Michel Gondry, a pioneer who transitioned from music video to auteur cinema. Two theoretical seminars will accompany the screenings, exploring the origin, evolution, and influence of music videos on contemporary film.
Musical Vanguard and Visual Music
The Musical Vanguard cycle and the Punto y Raya: Visual Music program explore rhythm, melody, and harmony through visual experimentation—abstract animation, sound art, and poetic audiovisual works. Screenings such as Synesthesias, Evanescences, and Algebraic Rhythms turn the screen into a musical score.
CineZeta: Total Sound Machine
In this series, sound becomes the heart of the cinematic experience. From José Antonio Sistiaga’s classic ...ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren... (Spain, 1970) to radical works by Nam June Paik and William Basinski, these sessions traverse trance, psychedelia, contemplation, and silence—images that sound, sounds that can be seen.
30 Years of Before Sunrise
In 1995, Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise told the simple yet profound story of two young strangers spending a night wandering through Vienna. Its honest emotion, intimate dialogue, and close attention to everyday gestures made it a defining work of modern romantic cinema—and a meditation on time, chance, and human connection.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Cineteca Madrid will screen the full trilogy spanning 18 years: Before Sunrise (USA-Austria, 1995), Before Sunset (USA-France, 2004), and Before Midnight (USA-Greece, 2013). Each installment captures a new phase in Jesse and Céline’s lives, showing how time reshapes relationships, dreams, and certainty. The trilogy becomes a cinematic mirror of personal growth and a unique narrative experiment.
Cinema Pride 2025
For Pride 2025, Cineteca Madrid once again becomes a hub for LGTBIQ+ storytelling with the latest edition of Cinema Pride, a collaboration with Fundación Triángulo and LesGaiCineMad. Now a fixture of the city’s cultural calendar, this annual event celebrates diversity and queer visibility through cinema as a space of memory, expression, and change.
This year’s selection includes mainstream premieres, auteur shorts, and contemporary classics—offering a multifaceted view of queer identities and relationships through bold, liberated, and necessary storytelling. Highlights include National Anthem (Luke Gilford, USA, 2023), The Wedding Banquet (Andrew Ahn, USA, 2025), and Palestinian short films that capture queer experiences in conflict zones. The program also features the double screening This City is Magic / Only When You Are Magic, a selection from the Hamaca archive exploring sexual dissidence through body, desire, and digital creation.
Myth and Desire in Bertrand Bonello
Filmadrid and ECAM Forum present a spotlight on Bertrand Bonello, a pivotal figure in contemporary French cinema. The program includes three of his key works—Tiresia (France, 2003), House of Tolerance (France, 2011), and Zombi Child (France, 2019)—and a masterclass on June 12. These films dive into his central themes: myth, history, and desire as engines of the present.
Fassbinder & Co. (Episode 2)
The tribute to Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 80th birthday continues with a second chapter focused on his legacy through films he wrote, inspired, or acted in. From Tenderness of the Wolves (Ulli Lommel, Germany, 1973) to Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki, USA-Netherlands, 2004), and from Law of Desire (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 1987) to Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1997), this cycle highlights his far-reaching impact across diverse film cultures.
Family Screenings, Premieres, and Regular Features
Sunday mornings are for families with classics like Shrek (Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, USA, 2001), Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, USA, 1984), Top Gun (Tony Scott, USA, 1986), and Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, USA, 2009)—films that connect generations through shared emotion.
New June releases include:
Rider (Spain, 2024) by Ignacio Estaregui
SinÉl (Spain, 2024) by Emilio Martínez-Borso
Summer Songs (Spain-Japan, 2024) by Jorge Suárez-Quiñones (winner of the 2024 Fugas Award at Documenta Madrid)
Gloria Fuertes (Spain, 2024) by Francisco Rodríguez
Ashes and Diamonds: The Movie of Don Cornelio y La Zona (Ricky Piterbarg, Argentina, 2024)
More Highlights at Cineteca Madrid
Also in June, the ECAM Forum returns to Matadero Madrid—a co-production forum aimed at boosting Spain’s audiovisual sector. Within this framework, the talk series The State of Things offers a fresh, non-nostalgic look at upbringing, life, culture, and entertainment.
Cineteca Madrid will also host events for Filmadrid, XI International Film Festival, including a special screening of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Stephen & Timothy Quay, UK, 2024), featured in last year’s Animario, and a session of Peruvian short films.
Regular series like Confesionario, Así son las cosas, Relatos del ruido, Docma, and Foro CIMA also return in June.