In a small Spanish village shortly after Franco’s fascists take power in 1940, a screening of Frankenstein captivates six-year-old Ana. When her older sister convinces her that the monster is real and lives in the surrounding countryside, Ana sets out in search of it, only to come face to face with dangers that are all too human. Made near the end of Franco’s long dictatorship, Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive is a haunting portrait of childhood imagination, fear, and isolation. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Spanish films of the 1970s, it remains a landmark of world cinema.

“One of the most beautiful films about childhood and the magic of cinema I know, it manages to put us in the same feverish childhood state as little Ana Torrent, for whom reality and imagination are inextricably intertwined.” – Lucile Hadžihalilović

Part of a season of classics curated by filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović. Join us for a director Q&A of her film Earwig on Saturday 30th May 5.30pm (click here to book tickets).