The Filmoteca Canaria screens El crimen de Cuenca by Pilar Miró on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at 19:00 at the Teatro Guiniguada in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and on Thursday, 24 September 2026, at 19:00 at the Espacio La Granja in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Both screenings are free; tickets must be booked in advance through the venues’ respective channels. The announcement was made by the Government of the Canary Islands on 18 September 2026.
The screenings are part of the autumn programme El cuerpo del delito, which explores the ripple effects of crime and its portrayal in Spanish cinema over several decades. Following films such as La caja 507 and ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?, the series now turns its focus to El crimen de Cuenca (1980).
Based on a real case from the province of Cuenca, El crimen de Cuenca tells the story of the arrest of friends Gregorio Valero and León Sánchez, who were accused of murdering the shepherd José María Grimaldos. Confessions extracted under torture led to a judicial scandal that made a deep impression on Spanish public opinion. The leading cast includes Héctor Alterio, Daniel Dicenta and José Manuel Cervino. The film is considered one of Pilar Miró’s most influential works. It met with fierce opposition shortly before the end of Francoist censorship: the film was held back for a time and was not released normally until after a ruling by the highest court. It subsequently attracted more than 2.5 million cinema-goers. Miró also shaped Spanish cinema institutionally, including as head of RTVE and the Dirección General de Cinematografía.
With screenings in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, Filmoteca Canaria brings discussion of violence by state bodies and the justice system’s response into the local cultural calendar. The series enters its final phase in October: on 6 and 8 October 2026, the film El ladrón de los guantes blancos —premiered in 1926 and the first feature film shot entirely in the Canary Islands—will be screened. Both showings are planned as silent-film screenings with live piano accompaniment. Seating is limited for all screenings, and free tickets must be secured in advance.
The organiser is the Instituto Canario de Desarrollo Cultural, which curates the series and coordinates the screenings at the Teatro Guiniguada and Espacio La Granja.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).