Actor Ricardo Gómez has completed the 16mm shoot of his feature-length directorial debut with Una familia, after five weeks on filming across the Community of Madrid. Selected for the Spanish Film Academy’s 2023 Rueda Programme, the project marks a decisive step in his career: a story born of a deep-rooted need to look back at his origins and understand the bonds that shape us.

The screenplay, written by Gómez himself, features a child actor drifting between reality and fiction, a prisoner making use of his day release, and a woman caught up in her son’s christening. Each story unfolds over the course of a single in the life of the three members of a family, all of them grappling with the same question: Who am I, and who do I want to be? Three tales of identity, set in different periods, but linked by blood ties and by a decision that will determine the fate of all three.

In the words of Ricardo Gómez: “Ever since I first considered the idea of stepping behind the camera, I knew that it would only make sense if I made a deep emotional commitment to the story, so that I could make an honest film, free from artifice. I felt the need, as an author, to give voice to my own thoughts. That is why I embarked on a journey of family research, through long conversations and searching through records, to gain a deeper understanding of my history. Starting from real events and then translating them into fiction and cinematic language, my aim was to tell the most intimate, personal and specific story possible.”

The film stars Claudia Traisac (Escobar: Paradise Lost, recently seen in the Netflix series Respira), Patrick Criado (currently in Bitter Christmas), Ana Wagener (Goya Award winner for Best Supporting Actress for The Sleeping Voice, recently in series such as Bellas Artes), Claudio Villarrubia (the miniseries Bank Under Siege), Ismael Martínez (recently in La buena suerte) and the young actor Víctor Lite.

Ricardo Gómez made his acting debut at the age of just seven in the series Cuéntame cómo pasó, where he worked for 19 seasons. As an adult, he worked in theatre and film, appearing in Tiovivo c. 1950 and 1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines, for which he received a Goya nomination for Best Newcomer. He recently appeared in the film I am Nevenka and in the series La Ruta and Fate. He made his directorial debut with the short film Gracias por venir (2016), and a year later co-directed the short Cariño with fellow actor Miki Esparbé; the film went on to become a finalist at the Notodofilmfest.

Una familia is a Spanish-Peruvian co-production by Carlos Montero for El Desorden Crea, Diego Betancor for Lágrima Films, Félix Tussell for Estela Films, Miguel Valladares for Tondero and Nuestro Ayer AIE, with the participation of RTVE and Movistar Plus+, and support from the ICAA, the Community of Madrid and Madrid City Council. The film will be distributed in Spanish cinemas by Filmax.