20/09/2005

"Whoever thinks this is a hard-hitting film let me tell you this is a light version of what you can find in the streets". This is how Spanish director Alberto Rodríguez described his last film, 7 Virgenes, competing for the Golden Shell for best film in the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Rodríguez’s third feature film, folowing El Traje and El Factor Pilgrim, is the story of Tano, a teenager who is doing time in a remand home. He is allowed to leave the institution for 48hrs to attend his brother's wedding. Back in his working-class neighbourhood, Tano tries to do all the things that are forbidden at the centre: gets drunks, takes drugs, steal and have sex. But he soon realises that everything and everybody is different from what they used to be and one by one his references collapse. That's why Rodríguez portrait of a dysfunctional teenager becomes a tough, but necessary, journey towards maturity. The director's approach to a theme (seen so many times before) is effective, but not vividly enough to bring a new exciting perspective to it. And, like many other directors before him, the search for realism led the director to cast mainly non-professional actors. Paradoxically, one of the great interests around film in San Sebastian – especially from the Spanish media - is the fact that the leading role is played by Juan José Ballesta, the 17 year old actor who won the Goya for the promising actor in 2001 for El Bola.

Produced by José Antonio Félez for Telesa, P.C./ La Zanfoña, the Spanish distribution of 7 Virgenes is handled by Alta Classics, while the international sales are managed by Sogepac.