MADRID.- Cineteca Madrid is setting the stage for a November that promises to be both a passionate remembrance and a look into a disquieting future. The city's dedicated film hub will honor the 50th anniversary of the passing of legendary Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini while simultaneously launching a provocative new series, "Rare Futures," exploring how technology is reshaping—and sometimes distorting—our present reality. It’s a month dedicated to thinking of cinema as both a living memory and a laboratory for what’s next.

The Immortal Insurgent: Pasolini at 50

Fifty years ago, on November 2, 1975, the world lost Pier Paolo Pasolini—poet, essayist, and cinematic rebel. His life and work were an urgent act of moral insurrection, an unyielding space where the sacred and the political clashed with a raw, uncompromising honesty. Cineteca Madrid is commemorating this half-century mark with two special sessions dedicated to his indelible legacy.

Audiences will have the chance to see two of his most profound works: Teorema (1968), the searing parable about the arrival of desire and spiritual awakening in a stifled bourgeois household, and The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), his fiercely humanistic and radical interpretation of the biblical texts. Screening these alongside the short film Funeral of Pier Paolo Pasolini offers a complementary and essential glimpse into a creator who masterfully channeled contradiction into a form of truth.

Surveillance and Satire: Decoding 'Rare Futures'

Moving from historical critique to contemporary anxiety, Cineteca launches 'Rare Futures,' a new series exploring the technological and social imaginaries that define our current era. Curated by Bani Brusadin and Solveig Qu Suess in collaboration with Medialab Matadero, the program is a compelling constellation of fiction, essays, and non-fiction pieces that interrogate the dark side of progress.

This isn’t just sci-fi; it’s a mirror held up to our reality. The films delve into a world where algorithmic control, pervasive surveillance, and economic precarity are rapidly becoming the norm. Expect a blend of dark satire and stark speculation with titles like Fresh Kill (1994), The Seasteaders (2018), and Everything But The World (2021), alongside recent shorts by cutting-edge artists. It’s a cinematic call to wake up to the strange futures we are already living.

Beyond the Big Cycles: Animation, Thrills, and Festivals

The month's program is rich with variety beyond the main cycles. Film lovers can look forward to:

• ‘Cineteca en familia’ paying tribute to Ub Iwerks (1901–1970), the often-overlooked pioneer of modern animation who co-founded Disney and gave the world the final design of Mickey Mouse. Families can enjoy restored gems from his vibrant ComiColor Cartoons series.

• The monthly ‘Linterna’ series, helmed by Brays Efe and Miguel Agnes, bringing back the tense, suffocating political thriller The Ear (La oreja, 1969). Banned upon release, this Czechoslovakian masterpiece masterfully uses marital paranoia as a metaphor for control under a totalitarian regime.

• A Celebration of Festivals: November is festival month, with Cineteca hosting four of Madrid’s most essential cinema events: the 8th Cine por Mujeres Madrid, the 30th QueerCineMad Festival, the 13th RIZOMA Festival, and the 15th Márgenes Festival, confirming Cineteca's status as a nexus for independent and contemporary film.

Rounding out the schedule, the retrospective for Chilean director Raúl Ruiz continues, offering titles like Three Sad Tigers and Mysteries of Lisbon. Whether you're seeking a look back at a moral giant or a piercing glimpse into tomorrow's tech landscape, Cineteca Madrid's November lineup is an essential cultural destination.