Celia Rico adapts Rafael Chirbes' novel La buena letra
- Loreto Mauleón, Enric Auquer, Roger Casamajor and Ana Rujas head the cast of the film by Misent Producciones, MOD and Arcadia Motion Pictures
The Andalusian filmmaker Celia Rico Clavellino is currently shooting on location in the eastern Levante region in Spain La buena letra [+see also:
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Loreto Mauleón (who appeared in the series Patria [+see also:
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The film tells the story of Ana (played by Loreto Mauleón) and her family in a Valencian village in the post-war period. The civil war has left a deep wound in all of them, especially her brother-in-law, Antonio (Enric Auquer). Ana tries to heal this wound with stews, secrets and silences, but when Isabel (Ana Rujas), recently married to Antonio, arrives in the family, Ana's attentions and care will be worth little or nothing, as sacrifice is not always rewarded.
On bringing the book to the screen, Celia Rico Clavellino states that, "I was deeply moved by the story of the novel’s protagonist, a woman who, like so many others, supported her family during one of the hardest times in our history. I thought of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers and what a beautiful opportunity it was to make this film from the point of view of one of them. Anonymous women who fulfilled what was expected of them, cooking, sewing and staying quiet, keeping the family together at the cost of sacrificing any dream or desire. Adapting Chirbes has been a challenge. I feel very fortunate to be able to bring one of his most personal and beloved stories to the screen, and to bring his characters to life with an amazing cast."
Rico Clavellino began her career as a screenwriter and director with the short film Luisa no está en casa, in competition in the Orizzonti section at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. Her first feature film Journey to a Mother's Room [+see also:
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interview: Celia Rico Clavellino
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La buena letra is a film by Misent Producciones and MOD Producciones together with Arcadia Motion Pictures. It has the participation of RTVE, Movistar Plus+, 3cat y À Punt, and is financed by the ICAA, Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals and Institut Valencià de Cultura. It will be distributed in Spanish cinemas by Caramel Films.
(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)
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