The César Manrique Foundation (FCM) and Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) have co-produced the film Utopía Manrique, within the framework of the artist's centenary.
According to the FCM, this is a documentary that presents an original approach to the figure of the artist through film and photographic archives, some of them unpublished or private and others from the RTVE funds, used as a resource to reveal a complex and unique subjectivity.
The premiere of the film, organized in collaboration with the Cabildo de Lanzarote, will take place next Friday, April 22 at the Auditorium of Jameos del Agua, at 7:00 p.m., and a cocktail will be offered after its screening.
With this act, the FCM formally concludes the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of César Manrique, organized between 2019 and 2020, which could not be completed as planned in April two years ago as it was interrupted by the pandemic.
Utopía Manrique, directed by Miguel G. Morales, with an original script by Fernando Gómez Aguilera, voice-over by Charo López and music by Mladen Kurajica, highlights "the lifestyle and way of being of an overflowing artist, as well as the way of relating to a territory essential for the development of his creative project: Lanzarote."
The invitations available to attend the event are free and can be picked up at the FCM headquarters, in Taro de Tahíche, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., from Wednesday, April 6 to Friday, April 8. A maximum of two tickets per person will be given, until they are sold out.
The FCM also points out that to facilitate access for the general public after the premiere, the film will also be screened free of charge at the Multicines Atlántida on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 at 7:30 p.m., in two sessions organized by the FCM with the collaboration of the Spínola Group. Likewise, RTVE has scheduled its television premiere on June 26, on La 2, within the series "Essential."
With Utopía Manrique, viewers will get closer to a modern artist, "inserted in the popular mass culture, uninhibited, versatile and a precursor." He was, in a particular way, "in relation to nature and the opening of art towards new behaviors that aspired to a total creation, a work of social and performative character."
In addition, the Foundation points out that the film shows Manrique's media projection, associated with "the splendid environmental spaces he created and his house sunk in the bowels of the lava, relying on his exuberant personality, hedonism and the exoticism of the volcano."
Utopía Manrique is a cinematographic piece that is part of the exhibition project "César Manrique. It's a pleasure", produced by the FCM on the occasion of the centenary of the artist's birth and curated by Fernando Gómez Aguilera.
The Foundation thanks the public of Lanzarote for the support and affection received with their attendance at the activities programmed in tribute to César Manrique. It also thanks the collaborating companies and entities for their generous involvement in the commemoration; and the Cabildo de Lanzarote for its contribution to the premiere of Utopía Manrique as a closing act of the centenary.
The work of filmmaker and visual artist Miguel G. Morales (Tenerife, 1978) is located on the periphery of non-fiction, with an eclectic investigative, documentary and essayistic character. He studied film in Madrid and at the Escuela de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He alternates his independent film work with video creations and designing the audiovisual field of exhibitions. He is currently working on what could be his first fiction feature film as co-writer and director, "Wild is the Wind."
