Fuensanta "La Moneta" is a contemporary flamenco choreographer and dancer In her dance studio she is preparing a new show with her students, however, everything changes when one of her students, Israeli and Jewish, gives her the book "The Hair of the Shoah" that Félix Grande wrote during his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camps and that marked his work to the point of being his last book.
Fuensanta devours every poem of Felix Grande and does not stop thinking about those tons of accumulated hair, the captive gypsies and the Jews parading towards certain death It is then when he gives a twist to his show and the goal is to visit Auschwitz to immerse himself in silence and look at it head on.
After convincing his manager, Raul, he starts in his show a retrospective to mix dance, literature, music and the silent interpretation of millions of silent lives Choosing three students in the cast will not be a comfortable task and each one will discover that "The Hair of the Shoah" is a greater link in their daily lives than they imagined.
This is how the whole story lands and becomes social.
Felix Grande was deep and emotional. He was like an older brother to me. I would not say like a father, even though I am about the same age as his daughter, Guadalupe Grande. We talked almost daily, he read all my scripts and he advised me. He participated in some of my films and in many of my documentaries. We spent summers and we even enjoyed a few New Year’s Eve parties together.
However, Felix left unexpectedly, he was taken away by pancreatic cancer in just a few weeks and I was not brave enough to say goodbye, as I should have done. Soon after, Paca and Lupe, wife and daughter, also left. Therefore, in a way, this film will be my first tribute to this poet brother who changed with his “Blanco Spiritual” the evolution of Spanish poetry in the second half of the 20th century.
After a visit to Auschwitz, Felix returned changed, convulsed and introspective. He spent some days almost mute, surely kneading in his heart the poems of what would be his last work: "The Hair of the Shoah." Fuensanta La Moneta, based on Félix latest work, has created a flamenco and contemporary dance show of great beauty and feeling: FACING THE SILENCE. Right after watching it, I understood that it should be the foundation for a film in which, through the art of La Moneta, the poetic work of Félix Grande would jump to the big screen .
The film, with references such as “Carmen” by Carlos Saura, will mix the rehearsals, the show and a plot that will disclose the Jewish and Gypsy women to whom belongs the hair that still rests in a large urn at the concentration camp.
Fuensanta "La Moneta" is the case of an artist with an early vocation Her
desire for flamenco dancing awakens in her childhood Her dedication to
dance and her innate conditions were so strong, that still being a child, she
was claimed by the most famous zambras of Sacromonte and Granada
tablaos During this period, she was asked to perform in galas organized by
radios and TV networks, winning important prizes.
La Moneta combines her studies with her work in the zambras and tablaos
to pay for her dance training in courses held by the best teachers Javier
Latorre, Mario Maya, Juan Andrés Maya, Juana Amaya, Matilde Coral,
Israel Galván and others When she danced for the first time in Madrid, in Sala Suristán, at the age of 16 both fans and critics came to the conclusion that they were in front of someone with the skills to become a great star in Flamenco dance On this occasion, the flamenco magazine Alma 100 interviewed her and showed her picture on the cover, granting her the title of "most outstanding bailaora born in the eighties".
Since then, Fuensanta la Moneta has danced in the most prestigious
Peñas Flamencas, in countless flamenco festivals and in theaters of
countries in Europe, Asia and America.
Félix Grande was born in Mérida, province of Badajoz, on February 4, 1937. He
grew up in Tomelloso ( Ciudad Real). He married the poet Francisca Aguirre, with whom he had a daughter, Guadalupe Grande. Initially dedicated to guitar and flamenco, he began to write and was awarded the Adonais Prize in 1963 for Las Piedras. He actively collaborated with the Hispano - American Notebooks, of which he became director.
Between 1969 and 1971 he directed the collection of books El puente literario , at Edhasa publishing house. For his extensive poetic production, he has received many awards: the Alcaraván Prize in 1962, the Guipúzcoa in 1965, the Casa de las Américas in 1967 and the Manuel Alcántara Prize in 1996, among others.
In winter 2004 he was awarded the National Prize for Spanish Letters. By then, Félix Grande's poetic work seemed closed. "When words do not arrive, it is perhaps because one does not deserve it," he said about a silence held for more than 30 years. It was the impression caused by a visit to the Auschwitz death camp that returned him to poetry, a mixture of innocence and courage for him, "a state of grace, not a literary genre." Thus La cabellera de la Shoah was born, the poem - book of a thousand verses with which the poet ended his collection in 2010.
"But I will fall saying / that life was good / and that it was worth it / to live and burst."
Emilio Ruiz Barrachina has been and remains one of the most notorious movie directors in the Spanish and European cinema industries in recent years A BBC correspondent in Latin America during the 1990 s, when Emilio returned to Spain he entered the movie business with the documentary “Lorca El mar deja de moverse about the Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca, which won prizes in many International festivals, including the award for the Best European Documentary in 2006 Also within this field he has directed very prestigious films like “Orson Welles and Goya,” an official documentary at the Expo Zaragoza 2008 with unpublished material from the brilliant American director, and Morente 2011 a musical about the flamenco singer and composer Enrique Morente which made it to the finals of the Goya Awards and was acknowledged by the FNAC as the best Musical Film in the same year Within the field of fiction two films are worth noting ::“El Discípulo (The Disciple),” 2009 a controversial feature film about the life of Jesus Christ, which was banned in several countries but won important prizes at festivals, like the Filmmaker UK Awards, starting with seven
nomination at that event and winning the awards for the Best Film, Best Production and Best Leading Actor His latest film is “La Venta del Paraíso (The Sale of Paradise),” 2012 which was a great commercial success and won the Prize for the Best Original Film at the New York City International Film Festival, as well as the Luis Buñuel Prize in Spain YERMA 2016 and BERNARDA 2017 both inspired by the plays of Federico García Lorca. “Broken Poet” 2018 The last movie directed: “ 2020 winner at the New York City International Film Festival of the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Music Executive Producer in 2021 of the documentary "Buñuel a surrealist filmmaker (Cannes Classics Official Selection.
A la sombra de los sueños .-2004
El Discípulo .-2010
La venta del paraíso .-2012
El Violín de piedra .-2015
Yerma .-2016
Bernarda .-2017
Broken Poet .-2019
Tristesse .-2020
Born in Calanda, in the same town as the famous Luis Buñuel, Javier Espada is one of the greatest experts on the work of the director from Calanda; so much so that most of his career as a director and writer is based on the figure and work of the surrealist director. As such connoisseur Javier created the Calanda International Film Festival, conceived as a cinematographic tribute to Luis Buñuel, he designed the contents of the permanent exhibition of the Buñuel Center of Calanda
(CBC), museum dedicated to the Aragonese filmmaker, Center that he has directed since its creation in 2000 until 2016. He has also participated, since its creation, in the Ecozine Festival of Zaragoza, supporting the environmental commitment through the dissemination and awareness capacity of cinema, both fiction and documentary. He has curated multiple exhibitions related to Buñuel and cinema, among them: - 'Los Olvidados. Memory of the World': Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Casa América de Cataluña, Universidad de Murcia, Ayuntamiento de Logroño, Mostra de Cinema de Lleida, Antiguos Baños Árabes de Jaén, Palacio Montemuzo de Zaragoza, as well as in France, Portugal, Germany, Holland and Mexico - 'Buñuel Creador de Cine': Semana de Cine de Medina del Campo, Semana de Cine Español de Coslada, Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España, Instituto Cervantes del Líbano .-'Paco Rabal, the actor and the man': San Sebastian Film Festival, Orihuela, Murcia.- 'Stereoscopic Photographs of Leonardo Buñuel':Calanda, Mexico, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain.- 'Buñuel, friends and films': Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.-” Buñuel family photographic album': Botines Building in León, SEMINCI in Valladolid, Casa de América in Madrid, Gijón, Málaga Film Festival - 'Mexico photographed by Luis
Buñuel': Filmoteca Española, Lleida, Portugal, France, Cuba, Argentina and Canada - 'Buñuel, friends and films': Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. -Buñuel between two worlds': Centro Nacional delas Artes, México, Congreso de Cultura Cinematográfica y Audiovisual Iberoamericana en Iberoamérica - 'Viridiana.50' which has opened to the public the house Buñuel built in Mexico after settling in that country. He has collaborated with the University of Alcalá and the Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales SECC) in the organization of the International Congress and the exhibition: 'Buñuel. An Andalusian Dog. 80 years'.
Filmography: Director and screenwriter, along with Gaizka Urresti, of the documentary film El último guión. Buñuel en la memoria (2008) which after its preview at the Berlinale was screened in more than 50 Festivals..Tras Nazarin (2015).Director and screenwriter of the short film Residencia "El Milagro" (2010) starring Asunción Balaguer.He has made the animated short film for children audience Buñuel y la linterna mágica (2011).He has directed Viridiana.50. documentary of interviews with Silvia Pinal, Carlos Saura, Juan Luis Buñuel and Jean Claude Carriere. 2011. Creator of the audiovisual Al filo de la vida for the exhibition Surrealismo, vasos comunicantes at the MUNAL (Museo Nacional de Arte) in Mexico City (2012). Director of the documentary film Una mujer sin sombra. Asunción Balaguer (2013), a journey through the life of Asunción Balaguer, widow of actor Paco Rabal. Javier Espada is the associate producer of the animated film Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas ( 2018). In 2021 he participates in the official section of the Cannes Film Festival 2021, directing the documentary Buñuel, a surrealist filmmaker.
El último guión. Buñuel en la memoria (2008)
Escrito y dirigido junto con Gaizka Urresti
Residencia El Milagro (2010)
Cortometraje
Buñuel y la linterna mágica (2011)
cortometraje de animación
Viridiana.50 (2011)
Documental
Al filo de la vida (2012)
Película audiovisual
Una mujer sin sombra. Asunción Balaguer (2013)
Película documental
Tras Nazarín. El eco de una tierra en otra tierra (2015)
Documental
Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (2018)
Productor asociado Película de animación.
Buñuel, un cineasta surrealista (2021)
Documental
