La Singla

Paloma Zapata / Spain, Germany / 2023 / 95 min
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  • Malaga Int'l Film Festival

  • Thessaloniki Int'l Documentary Festival

  • FICCI - Cartagena de Indias Int'l Film Festival

  • Guadalajara int'l Film Festival

  • HotDocs

  • DOXA Documentary Film Festival

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Spanish with English subtitles

With Antonia Singla

Why will your students love La Singla? As one of the greatest mysteries in Flamenco history, La Singla is more than just a film about a child flamenco artist, the Roma community, and the deaf community. This flamenco prodigy—who toured Europe with a young Paco de Lucía and shared the stage with the legendary Ella Fitzgerald—vanished at the height of her fame. This suspense thriller will uncover the universal story of an extraordinary woman whose mysterious gaze, unparalleled expression, and deep connection to flamenco art will captivate, move, and inspire audiences worldwide.

When Antonia Singla graced the stage, she did so without hearing the music. Born deaf to a Romani family in the suburbs of Barcelona, La Singla—as she would affectionately come to be called—rose to international acclaim by the age of 17. Quite literally moving to the beat of her own drum, La Singla’s pistol-like percussions were nothing short of revolutionary, gripping the world of flamenco with a dynamism never before experienced. But at the height of her fame, La Singla disappeared from the dance stage, leaving a scattered archival legacy of the world’s best bailaora behind.

Paloma Zapata’s hybrid film stunningly weaves the past and present together, expertly layering archival footage with passionate music and sound. One question drives her forward—to find La Singla herself and finally hear, in the dancer’s own words, the heartbreaking story of her life.

Press

“An outstanding suspense thriller, and a double revelation: the story of a woman with extraordinary wings who defied her era, and the confirmation that cinema can restore forgotten stories often silenced to avoid facing the truth. La Singla must be felt in your skin and experienced from within, as it’s one of those films that transform the viewer upon leaving the theater.” – Carlos Loureda, Filmand

“A documentary in search of a revolutionary deaf flamenco dancer who stormed the international stage before her sudden disappearance in the late 1960s. Although its form is never named, abuse is a theme that constantly waits in the film. Singla’s brief appearance at the end focusses more on the psychological consequences of her experience rather than their explicit narration. In contrast to the true crime industry’s sensationalist portrayal of trauma, Zapata demonstrates that there are other ways to tell stories of suffering without forcing victims to break their silence.” – Ellie Howard, Frieze

“Paloma Zapata’s hybrid film stunningly weaves the past and present together, expertly layering archival footage with passionate music and sound. A rapturous portrait of Antonia’s life, crystallized by the gaze of her admirers, La Singla is a riveting exploration of dance as expression, movement as experiment, and performance as rage. ” – La Fábrica Naranja

About the Director
Paloma Zapata, born in Murcia in 1979, holds a degree in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Creative Documentary. In 2008, she founded her production company, La Fábrica Naranja, in Barcelona. Since then, she has built an impressive career as a director, editor, and producer, specializing in international music videos and music documentaries.

Deeply rooted in the world of music, her films have been broadcast on platforms such as Movistar+, Al Jazeera, TVE, and TV3, and have premiered at renowned festivals like BAFICI (Argentina) and Guadalajara (Mexico). In 2020, her film Peret: Yo soy la rumba was nominated for the Gaudí Awards by the Catalan Film Academy and received the Ministry of Culture award in Yalta, presented by Nikita Mikhalkov.

In 2022 she developed the documentary project La Singla (a Spanish-German co-production) that has participated in international laboratories and forums such as: San Sebastián (2021), DocsBarcelona (2020), DOK.FEST Munich (2022), Sunny Side of the Doc (2022) and got the first prize at Abycine LANZA (2021) and DocsValencia (2020), the project was selected in the international program Circle Women Doc Accelerator (2022-23), which takes place in different face-to-face sessions between 2022 and 2023 in Serbia, Croatia and Italy.

In 2022 she developed the project Juliette & Camille, a Spanish-Peruvian co-production, which received the Music Library Award at the MAFF of the Malaga Spanish Film Festival in 2022, after being selected in the PMP of FIPADOC (Biarritz) and SANFIC (Santiago de Chile).

Notes on Film

“La Singla is not merely a film about flamenco, the Roma community, or even the deaf community—though all of these elements are intricately woven into its fabric. At its heart, La Singla is a universal story of an extraordinary woman whose mysterious gaze, unparalleled expression, and deep connection to flamenco art will captivate, move, and inspire audiences worldwide.

This film seeks to rescue Antonia Singla from obscurity. A trailblazer unjustly erased from history despite her profound contributions to flamenco, Roma culture, and the deaf community, she was a true pioneer in a culture that traditionally reserved its highest accolades for men. She deserves her rightful place in history.

The project also aims to honor flamenco—recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—by offering a fresh perspective that challenges outdated stereotypes. Beyond celebrating a forgotten icon, La Singla redefines the narrative surrounding flamenco, showcasing its power to transcend boundaries and redefine cultural identity.”

– Paloma Zapata, Director

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