30/03/2023 - The award-winning star of Matria heads up the cast of the new feature by the Purgatorio director, a social drama based on murky real-life events, staged by Aquí y Allí Films and Minoría Absoluta

Alumbramiento (lit. “Childbirth”) is the second feature that Pau Teixidor (Purgatorio) will direct and is based on real-life events. It stars Sofía Milán (seen in the TV series Amar es para siempre), in her first film role, flanked by María Vázquez, the winner of the Award for Best Lead Actress at the recent Málaga Film Festival for her turn in Matria [+see also:
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interview: Álvaro Gago
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The screenplay, penned by Teixidor in tandem with Lorena Iglesias (Ayudar al ojo humano [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), whisks us away to Spain in 1982. Marisa (played by Vázquez) decides to take her daughter to Madrid in order to find a solution to an unwanted pregnancy. Lucía (Milán) ends up being admitted to Peñagrande, a reformatory for pregnant teenagers. There, she will forge a close friendship with her fellow inmates and will learn that they want to take away the thing she does not yet have: her own son.

The film has been built up following a long documentation process and tackles two black holes in Spain’s recent history: the involuntary commitment of young, pregnant women and the snatching of newborns in the midst of apparent political and social change.

Nevertheless, according to the director, “When I managed to interview the women who suffered this irreparable pain, I noticed a common denominator in all of their experiences: they all felt like they’d been forgotten. As if what happened had been thoroughly erased from the collective consciousness. For that reason, and despite it being a bright, resplendent movie that aspires to reach the general public, it is still, essentially, a film about memory.”

The filmmaker adds: “Lorena Iglesias and I always had a clear idea that we were not interested in addressing these occurrences from a standpoint of condemnation. We have built a story in the first person that places the viewer at the very centre of a tale that is rich in nuances and surprising in how it brings together difference cinematic genres.”

Pau Teixidor (Madrid, 1982) graduated from Barcelona’s ESCAC in 2005, after specialising in Documentary. For several years, he worked on the directorial teams on various film productions, such as Grand Piano [+see also:
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interview: Eugenio Mira
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interview: Javier Ruiz Caldera
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interview: Àlex and David Pastor
film profile], among others. His first short film, Leyenda (2011), took part in the Official Fantastic Competition Section at the Sitges Film Festival and in the Official International Short Film Section at ZINEBI. With his most recent short, Cunetas (2017), he was nominated for the Gaudí Awards and participated in the Special Shorts Section of Sitges. With his feature debut, Purgatorio (2014), which starred Oona Chaplin, Ana Fernández and Andrés Gertrúdix, he competed in the Official Sections of the Málaga and Austin Film Festivals.

Alumbramiento is an Aquí y Allí Films and Minoria Absoluta production, which has secured backing from the ICAA and Madrid City Council. It also boasts the involvement of RTVE. Filmax will be in charge of distributing it in Spanish movie theatres.

(Translated from Spanish)