FANCINE AND MUELLE UNO RENEW THEIR SUMMER ROMANCE WITH FOUR ROMANTIC FANTASY CLASSICS
The series will run over four consecutive Wednesdays, with free admission and original-language screenings with Spanish subtitles, kicking off on June 24 with ‘Stardust’.
Summer officially arrives at FANCINE alongside a new open-air cinema experience. After seven editions of this beloved partnership, the University of Málaga’s Fantastic Film Festival and Muelle Uno are renewing their vows with the genre once again for a new edition of Fancine de Verano. This collaboration will this time invite audiences to surrender to romance, adventure and magic at the Port of Málaga through four films that have already cemented their status as big-screen classics.
Under the title ‘Summer Love’, the cycle will pay tribute to one of cinema’s great constants and a defining theme of the season itself: love. Intense, fleeting, impossible romances — or ones capable of overcoming any obstacle — that, as in the great myths of the genre, unfold in a realm suspended between dream and reality. To that end, a selection of films will be screened in their original language with subtitles, each one exploring love in a very different form: cosmic fairy tales, kidnapped princesses, ghosts who refuse to leave this world, and couples destined to find each other against all odds — all to accompany the first weeks of summer by the sea.
As usual, all screenings will be free of charge and will take place on Wednesdays in Muelle Uno’s main square, starting at 10:00 PM, in a space equipped with sun loungers and a grass area where audiences are also welcome to bring their own chairs, provided they respect the designated zones.
Summer Love
Coinciding with the meteorological start of the new season, the programme will kick off on June 24 with ‘Stardust’ (directed by Matthew Vaughn, 2007), a celestial fable based on Neil Gaiman’s novel. The film follows Tristan, a young man who ventures into a magical kingdom to retrieve a fallen star and win the heart of the woman of his dreams — a quest that will require him to survive a journey filled with witches, sky pirates and extraordinary creatures. Its stellar cast brings together Charlie Cox (‘Daredevil’) and Claire Danes (‘Homeland’) alongside undisputed icons such as Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro, in one of the most celebrated fantasy adventures of recent cinema.
July will open on the 1st with a cinematic phenomenon that defined the romance genre throughout the nineties: ‘Ghost’ (directed by Jerry Zucker, 1990). Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore portray the iconic couple at the heart of this supernatural love story, in which a murdered man attempts to protect his girlfriend from beyond the grave with the help of an eccentric medium — a brilliant Whoopi Goldberg, who won the Oscar for this role. This beloved and unforgettable film has left some of cinema’s most enduring scenes etched into our collective memory, among them the famous pottery wheel sequence in which both characters shape clay together to the gentle strains of “Unchained Melody.”
On July 8 it will be the turn of ‘The Princess Bride’ (directed by Rob Reiner, 1987), one of the most beloved cult films across multiple generations of audiences. The legendary Íñigo Montoya and his celebrated vow of revenge — delivered with that unforgettable “prepare to die” — opens the door to a colourful tapestry of swordsmen, giants, pirates and all manner of dangers, told in the spirit of an odyssey and shaped by fantasy and humour. Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin and a very young Robin Wright head the cast of a film that has transcended its era to become an essential touchstone of the genre.
The 2026 edition of Fancine de Verano will bid farewell on July 15 to the beat of one of the most popular romantic musicals of all time, ‘Grease’ (directed by Randal Kleiser, 1978), rounding things off with a festive closing night that will include live music. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John make the perfect bad-boy-meets-good-girl pairing as Danny and Sandy, two teenagers who share an intense summer romance only to discover, when they return to school, that everyday life can be far more complicated. With songs like “Summer Nights” and “You’re the One That I Want” — now true popular anthems — and an aesthetic that remains part of pop culture nearly five decades after its release, this classic will invite audiences to celebrate the arrival of the holidays alongside Rizzo (Stockard Channing), the Pink Ladies and the rest of the students of Rydell High School. Fancine de Verano marks its eighth anniversary alongside Muelle Uno by this way, having established itself since 2019 as one of the most eagerly anticipated cultural events of the summer season in Málaga. With the aim of keeping the spirit of FANCINE alive throughout the year and bringing fantastic cinema out into the streets during the warm months, the cycle offers, as its defining hallmark, a programme for all audiences that blends cinematic quality with entertainment for the laid-back nights of July. It also marks the first activity of the university festival within the framework of its 36th edition, which will run from November 11 to 17 at the Albéniz cinema and other venues across the city.
