CREW
director
*Manuel Huerga
screenplay
*Lluís Arcarazo
producer
*Jaume Roures
photography
*David Omedes
original music
*Lluís Llach
*Crew details
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producer
Selected filmography
- 'PRINCESAS' (2005, Fernando León de Aranoa)
- 'COMANDANTE' (2003, Oliver Stone)
- 'LOS LUNES AL SOL' (2002, Fernando León de Aranoa)
*Details in IMDB.com
The first time I spoke to anyone about the possibility of making a film about Salvador was twenty years ago with Jordi Solé Sugranyes and Manel Muntaner. In 2000 I brought up the idea again with Francesc Escribano. He was writing a book and I was giving him a hand with aspects of it. We got together with film people in Madrid but I wasn't fully at ease. I'd always thought that to make a film of this story you had to feel it, something which had been missing in our Madrid meetings. One day, having lunch with Manuel Huerga, the topic of Salvador came up again in conversation: his face changed and he got goose bumps all over, it was at that moment, I knew that I would be able to make good on my commitment of making the film.
I firmly believe that the films we have made set out to reflect people's dignity. The unemployed in 'Mondays In The Sun', the prostitutes and immigrants in 'Princesas', historical characters such as Salvador Allende; victims of war and torture in 'The Secret Life of Words', etc.
For me, Salvador Puig Antich represents the dignity of a whole generation, generous and full of solidarity and despite lacking the necessary political instruments committed themselves to a hard, ferocious struggle which was then subsequently quietly pushed under the carpet in the political transition from dictatorship to democracy. All the pain, prisons, torture and death was brushed aside and still today there are those who wish to trivialize the subject.
And Salvador's death followed the same path. However, fortunately, his family and friends raised their hands from time to time (their heads were always kept high) reminding everybody that the injustice had not been settled and that it should be not forgotten. Salvador was one of us: the brother in arms, the sympathetic brother, the son of any proud father of the time, the committed lover…. and the anger, pain and indignation that his death caused has remained present since that day in many sectors of our society. We have made a big effort to give those feelings shape. With the help of Huerga, Arcarazo, Llach and a group of actors and actresses and technical team who at all times have tried to accurately depict what happened and what is still happening in other places around the world with the generosity needed. The shooting of the film took a long time but it was easy to do, hard yet tender, complex yet enriching, we laughed and we cried and we received the encouragement of passers-by. Do you know what it's like when you're in a bar, or watching a kids' football when somebody you don't know comes up to you and tells you that it was about time and that they've been waiting for years to see the story and that the impotence that they've felt all this time is finally being transformed into a positive spirit and that our children and those of the all the others must realize that these things were happening here such a short time ago and that we don't ever want it to happen again here or anywhere else?
From amongst all the memories, there's one I would like to share. One of the toughest days for Arcarazo and Huerga was when we showed the film to the family and others close to Salvador. They had always said that they didn't want to see it, but both parties knew that that wasn't an option. We were all a little apprehensive. What if they didn't like it? They arrived looking serious, with anxious eyes and fidgeting in their seats but two hours later we were able to breathe easily. I knew we had found the right balance.
I hope that when you see it, you too can breathe easily.
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