05/04/2024 - New actors star in a family and coming-of-age story currently being filmed on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura

Director Jose Alayón (left) and fighter Tomasín Padrón (right) on the set of La lucha (© Selu Vega/El Viaje Films)

José Alayón is shooting a new feature film, entitled La lucha, an intimate story set in the world of Canarian wrestling, a traditional sport of the Canary Islands that has been practised since its distant aboriginal era. The film - shot in super 16mm format - will be a coming-of-age film starring non-professional actors, mostly real wrestlers. An extensive search had to be carried out over a year by casting director Cendrine Lapuyade (El agua [+see also:
film review
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interview: Elena López Riera
film profile]). From this process, the protagonists emerged: the young Yazmina Estupiñán and the veteran fighter Tomasín Padrón.

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After his debut film, Slimane [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and after years in creative production (his name appears in the credits of documentary titles such as Dead Slow Ahead [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Mauro Herce
film profile] by Mauro Herce and The Sea Stares at Us From Afar [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Manuel Muñoz Rivas
film profile] by Manuel Muñoz Rivas) and cinematography  (White on White [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Théo Court
film profile] by Theo Court and The Hidden City [+see also:
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interview: Víctor Moreno
film profile] by Víctor Moreno, among others) from the company El Viaje Films, Alayón now tells the story of Mariana (played by Yazmina Estupiñán). Her only passion is wrestling, but her body is too small for the canons of this contact sport, until one day in a rage she breaks the rules and faces the consequences. Meanwhile, her father, Miguel (played by Tomasín Padrón), is a veteran puntal (top-level wrestler) who is suffering from physical and emotional injuries, as he is still grieving for his recently deceased wife. Between day-to-day work, family, training and competitions, father and daughter try to overcome the difficulties of life.

The film is being shot in Fuerteventura, where a large technical team of professionals from the Canary Islands, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula, Colombia and Chile, has been assembled. Among them, Mauro Herce as cinematographer (winner of the Goya award for his work on Fire Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] and who has already worked on Alayón's debut film), Marina Alberti as screenwriter and executive producer (White on White), Silvia Navarro as art director  (They Carry Death [+see also:
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interview: Samuel M Delgado and Helena…
film profile]), and Emma Tusell as editor (The Undergrowth [+see also:
film review
interview: Macu Machín
film profile], a film by Macu Machín, seen in the Forum at the last Berlinale and a success in the Zonazine section of the 2024 Malaga Film Festival).

La lucha is a co-production between El Viaje Films (España) and Blond Indian Films (Colombia), and funded by MEDIA - Europa Creativa, ICAA, Government of the Canary Islands, Cabildo de Tenerife and Radio Televisión Canaria. Also, with the associated production of Macaronesia Films and the support of the Canarian Wrestling Federation, the Fuerteventura Wrestling Federation, the town councils of Puerto del Rosario, Tuineje, Pájara and Antigua, the Fuerteventura Film Commission, and several Canarian wrestling clubs and associations.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)