Shooting is under way on La Unión (lit. "The Union"), the debut feature by Cordelia Alegre, who co-wrote the screenplay for it with Marçal Cebrián (The Exiles). The film is toplined by newcomers Ariadna and Martina Castelló Caus, and is being shot over five weeks – one in Barcelona and four in Colombia.

Its synopsis introduces us to two 19-year-old twins who were born in Colombia but were raised in Barcelona, and who travel to their country of origin in 1979 to meet their father’s family and spend Christmas with them. While Cecilia devotes her days to investigating her father’s past, Juliana tries to understand his present. Their discoveries gradually drive them apart, but only together will they be able to piece together the story of their family.

The director explains: “La Unión was born of a void, of the need to know and understand my own family. But above all, it reflects on the origins of the silences and taboos that run through all of our family histories. While looking for answers, a few years ago I travelled to Colombia to begin a documentary about my grandfather’s family. The film imagines the journey of two sisters who arrive in a family that is also theirs but is completely unknown to them. What does it mean to discover that an essential part of your identity belongs to people you have never met? How do you build bonds when all that exists are silences?

“Creating a team made up of talents from both sides of the Atlantic allows me to develop the movie I have always dreamed of – a Catalonian, Colombian and Ibero-American work. A feature that represents the bond between countries and between different cultures,” the filmmaker continues. “La Unión is a film about two sisters trying to reconstruct their family history while also trying to reconstruct themselves after a bereavement. It is about two people who appear identical but relate to their surroundings in almost opposite ways. Above all, though, it is a movie about those of us who, at some point, have felt the need to look back in order to understand who we are.”

Born in Barcelona, Cordelia Alegre graduated in Audiovisual Communication from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), completing part of her studies at Université Paris VII. For her final degree project, she co-directed the medium-length documentary La distància dels noms, which premiered at Seminci in 2016. She subsequently completed a Master’s in Creative Documentary at UPF and worked as an assistant director to Neus Ballús on The Odd-Job Men. Her first short, Mestral (2023), premiered at the D’A Film Festival Barcelona and was selected for gatherings including Aspen Shortsfest (USA). Her next short film, El Norte (2024), premiered at ALCINE and was selected for festivals in Aguilar de Campoo, Gijón and Málaga, as well as D’A 2025, where it received the Audience Award.

La Unión is being produced by Àngels Masclans for Dos Soles Media, Roger Torras for WKND, Federico Durán Amorocho for El Sol Ermitaño and Jaime Guerrero Naudin for Rara Cine. The film boasts the involvement of RTVE and the support of the ICAA, the ICEC and the Ibermedia Programme, as well as backing from the UPF Barcelona School of Management, the Colombian Ministry of Culture and EFD Studios.