Our monthly focus in January is on Spain as a film country - time and again, outstanding films find their way into German cinemas. We bring together current Spanish productions of various genres, from the idiosyncratic romantic comedy to the unconventional family drama to the Almodóvar-produced visionary desert trip, from flamenco to bullfighting.

LA SINGLA

ESP/DEU 2023. D: Paloma Zapata. Documentary. 98 min. SpanOmdtU. FSK: 6

Antonia Singla: As a child, she lost her hearing after suffering from meningitis. She learned to dance flamenco at an early age without hearing the music, just by listening to the guitar strums. In the 1960s, at the age of 17, she was considered the best flamenco dancer in the world. She went on tour with Ella Fitzgerald, danced for Dalí and was also highly successful in Germany; Jean Cocteau said of her that she "spat fire out of her mouth and extinguished it with her feet". She retired from the stage at the age of 30 and disappeared without a trace. 50 years later, a journalist accidentally discovers archive material about La Singla. Fascinated, she sets off in search of clues: What would it be like to track down the vanished world-class dancer?
Director Paloma Zapata: "This film is intended to save a woman from oblivion who was ahead of her time and has unjustly disappeared from history, even though she made a great contribution to flamenco, Roma culture and the deaf community."