Eloy de la Iglesia’s cult classic Pals (Colegas) has been restored for a special edition Blu-ray

In the controversial 1982 cult classic Pals (Colegas), three teenagers living in a Spanish suburb find themselves in a whole world of trouble when one of them, Rosario, gets pregnant and doesn’t have the money for an abortion.

Her brother, Antonio, and her lover, Jose, fail to find legitimate work to raise the cash and turn to hustling and petty crime. They find themselves in a series of misadventures and encounters with grimy criminals in their effort. Luckily they’ve got each other!

Pals is a classic Quinqui (trouble-maker cinema) film from legendary director Eloy de la Iglesia starring real-life siblings Antonio and Rosario Gonzalez as well as his regular leading man Jose Luis Manzano. The film has recently been restored by the cult cinema label Altered Innocence for a brand-new special edition Blu-ray.

 

Watch the trailer for the film below and click here to pre-order your copy. The new Blu-ray will be available starting February 22nd.

 

Three controversial classics have been restored for the new special edition Blu-ray Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection

Short for “quincallero” (meaning “delinquent”) and pronounced “kinky”, “Quinqui” was a brutal subgenre of juvenile gang dramas produced in Spain in the 1970s and ’80s. But for Basque writer/director and outspoken gay socialist Eloy de la Iglesia (Cannibal ManNo One Heard the Scream), these three classics would become the most successful, controversial and tragically defining films of his entire career.

Jose Luis Manzano – the charismatic street kid discovered by de la Iglesia – stars in this graphic neorealist trilogy that depicts the crime, violence and drug abuse that ravaged the post-Franco nation, and led to the filmmaker and actor’s real-life addictions to heroin (and each other). Both would ultimately destroy them. The work they made together is fascinating as a representation of this gritty subgenre and their real-life relationship.

The films NavajerosEl Pico and El Pico 2 are included in this unique Blu-ray set from Severin Films, all scanned in HD from the original negatives.

Special features also include: Original Trailers; Blood In The Streets: The Quinqui Film Phenomenon, an interview with Quinqui Historians Mery Cuesta and Tom Whittaker; and Queerness, Crime and the Basque Conflict in the Quinqui Films Of Eloy de la Iglesia, a panel discussion with scholars Alejandro Melero and Paul Julian Smith, moderated by Evan Purchell of Ask Any Buddy.

Watch the trailer for Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection below and click here to pre-order your copy of the special edition Blu-ray. It will be available starting August 24th.