At the beginning of April, the shoot wrapped for 8, the new fiction feature written and directed by Basque filmmaker Julio Medem (a regular visitor to the major festivals in the 1990s, having presented The Red Squirrel in the Directors’ Fortnight and Earth in the Cannes competition, as well as Lovers of the Arctic Circle in competition at Venice; his most recent theatrically screened work was 2018’s The Tree of Blood [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], and his latest effort, Minotauro, Picasso y las mujeres de Guernica, is still awaiting release – see the news). It stars Javier Rey (famous for the series Cocaine Coast and glimpsed recently at Málaga in La mujer dormida) and Ana Rujas, who won acclaim for the series La Mesías [+lire aussi :
critique
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fiche série] and Cardo, and who will make her directorial debut imminently with El desencanto, a project in development with Movistar Plus+ and Suma Content (the production house run by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo), based on the non-fiction film The Disenchantment by Jaime Chávarri, which was released in 1976.

The storyline tells of how, over a period of 90 years, the lives of Octavio (played by Javier Rey) and Adela (Ana Rujas) intertwine in the shape of a number 8, through intense encounters and disagreements: a love story recounted in eight sequence shots, set against the backdrop of eight decisive periods in recent Spanish history.

Álvaro Morte (famous for Money Heist and who appeared in this year’s US horror flick Immaculate), Tamar Novas (winner of the Goya Award for Best New Actor for The Sea Inside [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] and recently glimpsed in ¡Salta!), Loreto Mauleón (the series Patria [+lire aussi :
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fiche série], The Chapel [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film]), Carla Díaz, María Isasi, Mateo Medina, Oriol Riera, Asier Burguete, Andoni Agirregomezkorta, Kandido Uranga (who previously worked with Medem on his feature debut, Cows, all the way back in 1992), Javier Morgade and Asier Hernández, as well as young actors Irene Aragón, Jordi Catalán, Jacobo Girón, Gabriel Álvarez, Eduardo Arregui and Sophia Garitano, round off the cast.

The movie has been shot on location in different parts of the province of Biscay, such as Orduña, Getxo, Arrigorriaga and Bilbao. Rafael Reparaz (Dancing Beethoven [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]) served as the DoP, Montse Sanz as art director, Maite Tarilonte as wardrobe designer, Eduardo Torres as hair department head, Cecilia Escot as make-up department head, Rubén Samos as head of special make-up effects, Pilar Moya as casting director, Jaime Barros as direct sound director, and Mamen Tortosa and Idoia Artxanko as production managers.

8 is a production by Álvaro Longoria, Rodrigo Espinel and Julio Medem himself for Barbazul La Película AIE, Eidan Produce and Morena Films, in co-production with Quexito Films. The movie boasts the involvement of RTVE and Movistar Plus+, in association with Latido Films as the international sales agent, and with backing from the Bilbao Bizkaia Film Commission and the Biscay Provincial Council.