Obaba

film screening

A rural drama set in Obaba, a mythical region in northern Spain, where a young filmmaker struggled to capture the feel of the area, which in turn leads to a wealth of self-discovery. Twenty-five-year-old Lourdes decides to travel with her video camera to Obaba, a small town in the Basque Country, to record the comings and goings of its residents as part of a class assignment. She quickly befriends Miguel and is drawn immediately to his easygoing nature: he is the only person in town that seems completely comfortable with himself. Lourdes begins to dig into the town's past to try to understand its present. However, the more she digs, the more it seems that strange and magical things are happening in Obaba; things that may be related to the odd green lizards that plague the townspeople - and allegedly feed on their brains. She attempts to record the passage of time with her camera, but quickly learns that life's mysteries are impossible to define or explain and that even attempts to capture them can get in the way of experiencing true wonder.

Obaba is Spain’s official nominee for Best Foreign Language Oscar 2005.