Houston cineastes will again have the opportunity to savor a sampling of contemporary Spanish films when the touring Festival of New Spanish Cinema returns Friday for a two-weekend run at the Rice Media Center.

This year's selection “is the biggest and most adventurous yet,” promises Marta Sanchez, founder of Pragda and prime organizer behind the 10-city tour of Spanish movies. The diverse program spotlights performances from some of the biggest Spanish stars working today -- including Santiago Segura, Luis Tosar and Leonor Watling – and films (some of them nominated for Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of Oscars) that have been hailed at festivals throughout the world.

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. Friday with the Houston premiere of The Great Vázquez (El Gran Vázquez), filmmaker Oscar Aíbar’s madcap biographical comedy, set in 1960s Barcelona, about influential Spanish cartoonist Manuel Vazquez Gallego, played by Santiago Segura as an incorrigible con man and serial bigamist who steals from one wife to give to another. After the screening, Aíbar will be on hand for a reception provided by Martin Codax and Las Rocas Albariño wine, presented by Casa de España.

Other festival offerings on tap this weekend and next include:

80 DAYS [80 Egunean] – 7 p.m. Saturday

Fifty years after they parted to embark on very different paths in life, childhood girlfriends Axun (Itziar Aizpuru) and Maite (Mariasun Pagoaga) are reunited – and given a second chance to acknowledge their long-repressed desires. Co-directed by Basque directors Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga, this sensitive drama was honored with a Film Commission Award at the 2010 San Sebastian Film Festival.

KIDNAPPED [Secuestrados] – 9 p.m. Saturday

Named best horror film at the 2010 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Miguel Ángel Vivas' technically proficient but aggressively violent thriller focuses on sadistic home invaders who torment a family of upscale Madrid suburbanites. During its fleeting U.S. theatrical release last year, reviews were, to put it generously, mixed. Consider yourself warned.

EVERY SONG IS ABOUT ME [Todas las Canciones Hablan de Mi] – 5 p.m. Sunday

Filmmaker Jonás Trueba, son of Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque), earned comparisons to Woody Allen and Francois Truffaut with his debut feature, a light romantic comedy – generously laced with melancholy – about a slackerish would-be poet (Oriol Vila) who’s hard-pressed to get on with his life after the end of his six-year relationship with a lovely, but not infinitely patient, architecture student (Barbara Lennie).

LOPE – 7 p.m. Sunday

Alberto Ammann, Leonor Watling, and Luis Tosar – three superstars of contemporary Spanish cinema – join forces with director Andrucha Waddington (The House of Sand) for this briskly paced period comedy-drama loosely based on the life and loves of 16^th-century Baroque dramatist Lope de Vega y Carpio.

BICYCLE, SPOON, APPLE [Bicicleta, Cuchara, Manzana] -- 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27

Director Carles Bosch details the steadfast struggle of Pasqual Maragall, the former mayor of Barcelona and president of Catalonia, to withstand the relentless ravages of Alzheimer's. Following the H-Town premiere screening of this acclaimed feature – winner of the 2011 Goya for Best Documentary -- the Festival of New Spanish Cinema will host a panel discussion with Alzheimer’s researcher Dr. Gustavo Roman and caregiver Connie Assiff.

WITH OR WITHOUT LOVE [Una Hora Más en Canarias] – 7 p.m. Jan. 28

Love and lunacy commingle chaotically in director David Serrano’s screwball musical comedy about a married megabitch (Colombian star Angie Cepeda) who behaves badly – and, with her zany sister (Juana Acosta), plots madly -- after she’s dumped by her lover (Quim Gutierrez).

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? [¿Quién Puede Matar a un Niño?] – 9 p.m. Jan. 28

OK, this isn’t exactly New Spanish Cinema, but never mind. Get ready for some scary stuff, kids, when maniacal children terrorize a vacationing British couple on a remote island in Narcisco Ibáñez Serrador’s 1976 cult-fave horror thriller, which was heavily censored for its American release back in the day under the title Island of the Damned.

LOVESTORMING [No Controles] – 4 p.m. Jan. 29

Aided and abetted a motor-mouthed former classmate and an array of eccentric strangers, heartbroken Sergio (Unax Ugalde) tries to win back his ex-girlfriend with the heartiest of New Year’s Eve parties in Oscar-nominated filmmaker Borja Cobeaga's rambunctious comedy, a recent box-office smash in Spain.

HALF OF OSCAR [La Mitad De Oscar] – 7 pm Jan. 29

Manuel Martín Cuenca's austere and moody drama of dark secrets and frayed family ties plays out against the windswept beach and mountains of Almeira. Oscar (Rodrigo Saenz de Heredia), a taciturn security guard in a semi-abandoned salt mine, has his routine interrupted by the not-entirely-welcome reappearance of his sister, Maria (Veronica Echegui), who arrives from Paris pregnant and with a French boyfriend (Denis Eyriey) after a two-year absence. Nothing good comes of this.