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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Spain

Pablo Maqueda wraps up shooting his second film, La desconocida

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- Based on the acclaimed play Grooming, by Paco Bezerra, the film stars Manolo Solo, Eva Llorach and the young actress Laia Manzanares

Pablo Maqueda wraps up shooting his second film, La desconocida
Actress Laia Manzanares, director Pablo Maqueda and actor Manolo Solo on the set of La desconocida (© Daniel Mayrit)

Filming has concluded on La desconocida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Maqueda
film profile
]
, the second film by Pablo Maqueda (Madrid, 1985), who made his mark as a director with the documentary Dear Werner. Walking on Cinema [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Maqueda
film profile
]
, having previously directed feature films premiered online and produced over 25 more, including work by Chema García Ibarra and Manuel Bartual. Based on the successful theatre piece Grooming, by National Award winner Paco Bezerra, starring Antonio de la Torre on stage, this film uses a script by Maqueda and Bezerra themselves together with Haizea G. Viana. The film stars Laia Manzanares (The Realm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel P…
film profile
]
), Manolo Solo (winner of a Goya for The Fury of a Patient Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raúl Arévalo
film profile
]
and currently in cinemas in The Good Boss [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Eva Llorach (Winner of a Goya for Quién te cantará [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile
]
), in collaboration with Blanca Parés (Julieta [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile
]
).

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For the director, “shooting this film has been one of the most intense and enriching experiences of my life, not just professionally, but personally. I have learned a great deal from Laia and Manolo and from every single crew member. Working alongside the DOP Santiago Racaj (who normally works with Jonás Trueba) has been a gift, and I am really looking forward sitting down with our editor Marta Velasco (The Queen of Spain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Trueba
film profile
]
) and start to shape this story, which I hope will leave no-one indifferent”.

Filming took place through October and November on location in Madrid and Albacete: in fact La desconocida received an award at the Abycine Lanza Independent Film Market of the Abycine Film Festival Abycine 2019, one of the benchmarks for the Spanish audiovisual industry.

According to the synopsis provided by the production companies, Carolina (Manzanares) is a sweet, naïve young girl who meets Leo (Solo) on an internet chat. He is an adult posing as a 16-year-old and he has managed to persuade her to meet him in a park in town. But as he gets to know the girl, he starts to suspect that she might not be as innocent and harmless as she seems.

“We all have secrets,” says Maqueda, “dark parts of us that could be shocking to those around us. In this film I wanted to delve deeper into these secrets, into the unknown, into the most terrible darkness that may anyone we pass in the street might be hiding. Being able to create a complex character such as ‘the stranger’ was a real challenge".

La desconocida is a production by Fórmula Cine A.I.E. and Elamedia, with the support of the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), the Regional Authorities of Madrid and the Madrid City Hall, the Castilla La Mancha IMPULSA Foundation and ECAM, with participation from Telemadrid and Castilla La Mancha Media TV. The film will be distributed in Spanish cinemas by Filmax.

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(Translated from Spanish by Alexandra Stephens)

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