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Barcelona Review editor Jill Adams selects her favourite films showcasing the vibrantly colourful, and gritty, Catalan capital

As featured in our Barcelona city guide

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), Pedro Almodóvar, 1999

What is arguably Almodóvar's greatest work begins with tragedy in Madrid, but soon moves to Barcelona, beginning with a breathtaking night-time glimpse of the Sagrada Familia, where the sheer buoyancy of the city steers the film in a powerful and dazzling new direction. Here Manuela (the magnificent Cecilia Roth) reunites with her old friend, the witty and wonderful transsexual prostitute Agrado (Antonia San Juan) – whose flat overlooks the Palau de la Música – while inadvertently immersing herself in the world of theatre and helping a naive young nun (Penélope Cruz). Art mirrors life mirrors art in this vibrantly colourful (literally), multi-layered tribute to women ("We are all women!'" says Almodóvar) that beautifully captures the dynamism and...

MADRID -- Take My Eyes, Iciar Bollain's dramatic look at domestic violence, led the pack Wednesday as Spain's Film Academy announced nominations for the XVIII Goya Awards, snatching noms in nine of the 28 categories. Eyes will compete for best film against Isabel Coixet's My Life Without Me, Antonio Mercero's The 4th Floor and David Trueba's Soldiers of Salamina, Spain's candidate for the foreign-language Oscar. Soldiers, a Lola Films/Fernando Trueba co-production, Life, produced by El Deseo, and Eyes, produced by La Iguana and Alta Prods., also will see their helmers vie for best director. Also nominated in the directing category is Cesc Gay for his In the City. Gay and co-writer Tomas Aragay will face off for best original script with Bollain and Alicia Luna for Eyes, Jaime Rosales and Enric Rufas for Hours of the Day and Pablo Berger for Torremolinos 73.

MILAN -- In what it hopes will be a sign of things to come at this year's MIFED, leading German sales outfit Bavaria Film International closed a series of deals on the eve of the market including multiple territory sales for Kim Ki-duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring and a six-picture deal with Israel's Orlando Films. Spring, Korea's official Academy Award entry this year, was sold in all-rights deals to Metro Tartan for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Rialto for Australia, Spain's Festival Filves, Audiovisual for Greece, Imovision for Brazil, Portugal's LNK, Septimo Arte for Mexico, Rayson Global for Argentina and SPI International for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Orlando, which has had a local hit with Bavaria's Good bye, Lenin! inked a six-picture deal with the German group, picking up Israeli rights to Soenke Wortmann's soccer drama The Miracle of Bern, Cesc Gay's In the City, Jaime Rosales' The Hours of the Day, Extrano by director Santiago Loza, Martin Rejtman's The Magic Gloves and Hans-Christian Schmid's Distant Lights.