Bitter Christmas, Pedro Almodóvar’s new film following The Room Next Door [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pedro Almodóvar
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The 24th film by Spain's most international filmmaker stars actors who have previously worked with him: Bárbara Lennie (winner of the Goya for Best Actress for Magical Girl [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Carlos Vermut
scheda film], who appeared in a supporting role in The Skin I Live In [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pedro Almodóvar
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intervista: Antonio Banderas
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
scheda film]), Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Milena Smit (both seen in Parallel Mothers [+leggi anche:
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making of
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Bitter Christmas (also the title of a song performed by Chavela Vargas, a friend of Almodóvar) tells the story of Elsa (played by Bárbara Lennie), an advertising director whose mother dies during a long December holiday weekend. She throws herself into her work, although it is more of a headlong rush forward. She works non-stop and, without realising it, denies herself the time she needs to grieve for her mother's absence. Until a panic attack forces her to stop and take a break. Her partner, Bonifacio, is her lifeline in this moment of crisis. Elsa decides to travel to the island of Lanzarote with her friend Patricia (Victoria Luengo), who is also looking to get away from Madrid, while Bonifacio stays behind in the city.

"The story of these three characters, and several others, runs in parallel to that of screenwriter and film director Raúl Durán (Leonardo Sbaraglia), intertwining fiction and reality. Bitter Christmas shows how life and fiction are inseparably linked, sometimes painfully so,” says the director about the film, with cinematography by Pau Esteve Birba (Goya winner for Caníbal [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Manuel Martín Cuenca
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Bitter Christmas is produced by El Deseo (the company owned by brothers Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar, who recently co-produced Óliver Laxe's Sirât [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Óliver Laxe
scheda film], winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes) in collaboration with Movistar Plus+. Warner Bros. Pictures Spain will distribute the film in Spain, scheduled for next year.