Between March and April, the Basque Country hosted the shoot for the new feature film by Argentine director Pablo César (Historia de dos guerreros), entitled Romance de la luna negra and starring the Buenos Aires-born actress Luz Fernández de Castillo. Shot on 35mm, a hallmark of this filmmaker’s body of work, the project features Helena Dueñas (The Good Voice), Zorion Eguileor (Maspalomas, The Platform), Iñaki Balboa (the series Querer), Fernando Ustarroz (Close Your Eyes) and Guillermo Uría.

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The screenplay, written by Jerónimo Toubes and Luz Fernández de Castillo, centres on Clara, a 75-year-old woman who lives alone in a flat at the top of a Basque village near Bilbao. Her routine is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious neighbour, triggering a set of strange occurrences: shifting faces, philosophical presences and resurfacing memories. In a park in Tolosa, Clara drifts between the everyday and the extraordinary, between the tangible and the dream-like. In each place, her encounters with these figures bring her closer to a personal enigma. With no easy answers, only the courage to look back and move forward will reveal the hidden meaning of her journey.

“I felt right at home in the Basque Country. Filming at the farmhouse in Amurrio, in Álava, awakened in me a deep nostalgia linked to my Basque roots, but also a vivid connection between the personal and the collective,” says the director. “Working with Basque actors and crew, with such dedication and authenticity, has been deeply inspiring. It’s a one-way journey: filming in 35mm in this valley, in the spirit of the Basque Country, means being in constant contact with poetry.”

Pablo César has created his entire body of work using photochemical film —  including two feature-length films in Super 8mm, three in 16mm and 14 in 35mm, counting this latest one. Alongside Romance de la luna negra, he has also produced a documentary featuring interviews with the cast and technical crew, shot using the new Kodak Super 8mm camera launched a year ago to mark the format’s 60th anniversary. For more than 30 years, César has explored African themes, addressing issues related to African heritage and its cultural legacy in Argentine society. Since beginning his professional career in 1987, he has directed 18 feature films, nine of them co-productions with African nations, such as Unicornio, el jardín de las frutas, Orillas and Afrodita, el jardín de los perfumes.

Romance de la luna negra is a film by the San Sebastián-based company Duende Etxea, with Pablo César and José Trullenque serving as executive producers.