The Year of Maria

The Year of Maria (Año mariano) is a 2000 Spanish black comedy film directed by Karra Elejalde and Fernando Guillén Cuervo, who also star in the film alongside Manuel Manquiña, Gloria Muñoz, and Sílvia Bel.

Plot
Mariano, an alcoholic cassette salesman, crashes on a marijuana plantation being burned by Guardia Civil agents, so dazed and hallucinated by narcotics, he sees the Virgin Mary. With help from a middling showman (Tony Towers) he becomes a messianic figure in rural southern Spain.

Production
The film was produced by Asegarce with the collaboration of TVE, Vía Digital, and ETB. Shooting locations in the province of Almería included Cala Carbón (Níjar).

Release
Distributed by Aurum, the film was released theatrically in Spain on 11 August 2000. It was the second-largest grossing Spanish film at the 2000 domestic box-office after Common Wealth.

Reception
Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film (otherwise stylistically a baby brother to Juanma Bajo Ulloa's Airbag), to be "at worst sloppy and uncontrolled, at best nicely imaginative".

Accolades

 * align = "center" | 2001 || 15th Goya Awards || Best Special Effects || Juan Ramón Molina, Alfonso Nieto || Nominated || align = "center" |
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