Richard Peña Selects: Law of Desire (La ley del deseo)
Campus Arts Event
Richard Peña Selects: Law of Desire (La ley del deseo)
The three day festival begins with a screening of Law of Desire (La ley del deseo), introduced by Richard Peña of Columbia University School of the Arts
FREE
Lenfest Center for the Arts - The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room
December 01, 2023 | 7:00 pm
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Festival Details

On the eve of his retirement, Professor Richard Peña has selected six films of particular importance to him and his career, ranging from classic Hollywood noir to one of the last Chinese films made before the Cultural Revolution to screen in this three day festival.

Film Details

Law of Desire
(La ley del deseo)


1987 / 102 mins. / color

Dir. and Scr. Pedro Almodóvar

Cine. Ángel Luis Fernández

Cast: Antonio Banderas, Carmen Maura, Eusebio Poncela

Location

The Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room
Lenfest Center for the Arts
615 West 129th Street
New York, NY 10027

About The Event

Pedro Almodóvar’s seventh feature, Law of Desire, is an early pivot point in his long career. It was the first of his films to focus on romantic relationships between gay and trans characters; the first to be produced by Almodóvar’s own company, El Deseo (run with his brother, Agustín); and the first to feature a filmmaker character based on himself (played in this case by Eusebio Poncela). As Almodóvar has said, “It’s the key film in my life and career. It deals with my vision of desire, something that’s both very hard and very human. By this I mean the absolute necessity of being desired and the fact that in the interplay of desires it’s rare that two desires meet and correspond.

For more information, please visit the event website.

Image: Film still from Law of Desire (La ley del deseo)