Spanish with English subtitles
With Petra Martínez, Anna Castillo
Two Spanish women of different generations coincide in a hospital room in Belgium. Maria (Petra Martinez) has lived there for decades after emigrating in her youth, and Veronica (Anna Castillo) is a young newcomer in search of opportunities she never found in Spain.
A peculiar friendship is forged between them that will lead María to undertake a trip back to the south of Spain with an unusual mission. What begins as a journey in search of Veronica’s roots, will become an opportunity to question certain principles on which she based her life.
Press
“David Martín de los Santos‘ debut feature awaits to unfurl its superbly performed, constantly surprising, deeply moving series of everyday miracles on you. ” – Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
“Delicate film (...) It touches on very intimate and fragile matters with a subtlety and modesty that redouble the false shock of any underlining, always relying on the quiet voice of its two immense actresses.” – Elsa Fernández-Santos, El Pais
“Petra Martínez, well into her seventies when she shot this, gives a strong, minimalist performance” – DEMETRIOS MATHEOU, Screen Daily
Notes on Film
“When you don’t have the words to say things, then you use stories,” says Baricco. The first idea for this film came while I was accompanying my mother as she was leaving this world. A very wise friend of mine, who also passed away, said that this script that was beginning to take shape was an attempt to keep my mother alive.
Perhaps this film is a way of transcending helplessness in the face of death. The loss of my parents, and some relatives and friends, opened in my memory what they passed on to me to somehow keep them alive. This is the essence and the main driving force of the film. Maria and Veronica, two characters without apparent links, connect through the imaginary umbilical cord that binds us to everything: nature, food, and the other… From that perspective one is no longer alone.”
– David Martín de los Santos, Director
