{"id":22957,"date":"2025-04-24T11:32:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T11:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/los-dos-ultimos-largometrajes-de-canarias-cinema-transitan-entre-el-romance-de-galdos-y-pardo-bazan-y-la-eclosion-adolescente-hacia-el-mundo-adulto\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T12:04:30","slug":"los-dos-ultimos-largometrajes-de-canarias-cinema-transitan-entre-el-romance-de-galdos-y-pardo-bazan-y-la-eclosion-adolescente-hacia-el-mundo-adulto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/los-dos-ultimos-largometrajes-de-canarias-cinema-transitan-entre-el-romance-de-galdos-y-pardo-bazan-y-la-eclosion-adolescente-hacia-el-mundo-adulto\/","title":{"rendered":"Canarias Cinema\u2019s last two features move from Gald\u00f3s and Pardo Baz\u00e1n\u2019s romance to a coming-of-age story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2022 For the Canarias Cinema section’s closing, Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo<\/em>, by Paula Cons, rediscovers Gald\u00f3s\u2019 side as a lover on the same day that actress Sara Toledo presents Adri\u00e1n Orr\u2019s film A nuestros amigos<\/em><\/p>\n

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Thursday, April 24, 2025.- Rediscovering Gald\u00f3s from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: as a man and a lover. That\u2019s what Paula Cons\u2019 Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo<\/em><\/strong> makes possible within the Canarias Cinema section of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. The love story between Don Benito and Emilia Pardo Baz\u00e1n has been turned into a movie, because it was like that, a movie-like passionate and epistolary relationship between an improbable couple. Also competing for the Richard Leacock Award is the film A nuestros amigos<\/em><\/strong>, by Adri\u00e1n Orr, a filmmaker, screenwriter and cinematographer who approaches from a special point of view the universal topic of coming of age in the hood. Both films will be shown on Sunday, April 27<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo \/ My Dearest Friend<\/em> <\/strong>(2024, Spain, 84 min.) will be screened at 10 a.m. at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas Screen 6 and at 6 p.m. at the same screen. Its last showing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30, at 8 p.m. at Screen 7.<\/p>\n

A nuestros amigos \/ To Our Friends<\/em><\/strong> (2024, Spain-Portugal, 90 min.) will be screened at 12:15 p.m. at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas Screen 6 and at 8:15 p.m., when its lead actress, Sara Toledo, will be in attendance. Its last showing will take place at noon on Friday, May 1, at Screen 7.<\/p>\n

Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo \/ My Dearest Friend<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo<\/em> explores the love story between Emilia Pardo Baz\u00e1n and Benito P\u00e9rez Gald\u00f3s. Ahead of its time in many respects, their romance provides lots of on-screen possibilities, besides the huge challenge it meant for its lead actors, Paco D\u00e9niz and Luc\u00eda Veiga. The film was promoted by Canarian producer Chedey Reyes, who trusted its direction to Galician filmmaker Paula Pons, who assumed the task with the passion befitting a project of this nature.<\/p>\n

The Canarian-Galician pair is transferred here from the story\u2019s development to its filmmaking. Cons points out that \u201cwhen approaching a period film, you always try to bring it to the present time. But we had to make no effort here, because Gald\u00f3s and Pardo Baz\u00e1n seemed to me so contemporary, and can teach us so many things about personal relationships, about sex, even.\u201d<\/p>\n

The filmmaker is happy about having worked alongside art director Vanesa Tellez, costume designer Fede Poluso and Canarian cinematographer Tere Ruano, besides Reyes himself. \u201cWe talked a lot among us, we played a lot with colors and the different elements. We established plenty of dialogue and communication, and that was crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cons refers to her Don Benito, Paco D\u00e9niz, as \u201cthe expert on Gald\u00f3s, the worker. He shows a dedication that wins you over. He trusted me and jumped without a net.\u201d She also describes her lead actress, Luc\u00eda Veiga, as \u201ca stage animal.\u201d They both elevate the story, not only with their work, but with their on-screen chemistry. The filmmaker claims that, from the beginning, \u201cit was amazing. From the very first day. You make a text practice walking down the street and you say \u2018Wow.\u2019 And in the second try it\u2019s like \u2018Oh my god, they are more than ready to film!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The actual filming took only one week of shooting in Madrid and three other in Gran Canaria. Discovering the Galdosian locations in the Gran-Canarian capital was a huge revelation for Cons. \u201cWhen I arrived, I was amazed by those buildings. Architecturally, it was wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Galician director, who has made other historical films such as Lobos sucios<\/em> (2015) or La isla de las mentiras<\/em> (2025), in addition to the tv series \u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 Marta?<\/em> (2021), claims that Don Benito is owned \u201ca debt by all of Spain, not just cinema. It\u2019d be a lot better for us if we all read his National Episodes<\/em>. Forty years of dictatorship contributed a lot to Gald\u00f3s\u2019 fall into oblivion. And also to Emilia, although in a way she was more conservative in her views. She has been, too,\u201d she continues, \u201cunjustly treated by history. It’s been said that anybody could be a feminist with the position she was in. But there were a lot of them there and none did anything. She invented a term like \u2018womancide\u2019 and left her mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, in the film \u201cwe wanted to focus on the person. There\u2019s a point at which you have to be bold. If you stop to think about who you are trying to portray, you become paralyzed. And here they are in the open, people of flesh and blood, making big mistakes and loving each other. Doing the best they can.\u201d For Cons, Benito and Emilia \u201care humanized. And he is a victim of their time. Yet, despite all that, he\u2019s the best man he can possibly be at that moment. In the face of certain issues the film deals with, they both were victims of the patriarchy and of a society in which, actually, we couldn\u2019t ask them for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Cons, both characters \u201ccannot be regarded from our current point of view. Maybe Gald\u00f3s wasn\u2019t fair with Emilia, but he realizes it, and that\u2019s a lot. He hurts himself. Here, he is a man who shows his emotions and asks for forgiveness. I find it to be a wonderful masculinity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The director admits that \u201cas a documentary filmmaker, journalist and director, I love true facts. Everybody thinks it was a project of my own, but it wasn\u2019t: it was a job. From Chedey. And the shooting process has been even therapeutic for me.\u201d Cons is happy about the selection of the feature at the Canarias Cinema section of the Gran-Canarian Festival. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty nice that a film about Gald\u00f3s ends up here, it\u2019s like coming full circle,\u201d she points out, before concluding that \u201cI think the relationship between the city and the festival is beautiful. A very interesting film festival for independent cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

A nuestros amigos \/ To Our Friends<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Adri\u00e1n Orr has directed A nuestros amigos<\/em>, a piece on the edge of the documentary genre, in which the filmmaker has thrived with titles such as Buenos d\u00edas resistencia<\/em> (2013) and Ni\u00f1ato<\/em> (2017). The director from Madrid, trained at Lisbon, offers here the final result of Sara Toledo\u2019s life tracking, filmed mostly in Madrid, in the hood. Her adolescence and her coming of age become the frame of a piece endowed with the full seducing power of the real, the authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a very, very long process, four years of shooting,\u201d Toledo recalls. She will be at the Gran-Canarian event to present her feature. \u201cI\u2019ve been told it\u2019s an amazing festival and that I\u2019m going to love it,\u201d she anticipates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdri\u00e1n was more or less finding the movie after the first summer, then the intensity began to slow down,\u201d the lead actress explains regarding the preparation of a piece she describes as \u201ca documentary hybrid, between what was happening to me and what Adri was seen.\u201d The actress insists on the fact the it ends up being captured on screen \u201cthe feeling of growing during the film, there\u2019s a lot of it. I myself has gotten a lot closer to cinema. In fact, that\u2019s where I’m working right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the shooting started, Sara was 18 years old, \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything.\u201d Today she is an actress who sometimes struggles with \u201clooking at yourself in those years that were yours. It depends on the day it gets you, it cheers you up or gets you down in the dumps, because you\u2019re in a slump and don\u2019t like yourself. But it\u2019s been a fun and easy process in general, because Adri\u00e1n and I are very good friends. And there\u2019s always been a lot of freedom, in terms of what we wanted to do and what we didn\u2019t. We also had the peace of mind of knowing we had enough time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Toledo can say that \u201cit\u2019s been great, because this film has been ours.\u201d Although \u201cI\u2019m very surprised at the response it is getting\u201d in the festival circuit. Orr\u2019s film has received the Best Documentary Award at Nantes\u2019 Festival du Cin\u00e9ma Espagnol, and it\u2019s also being recognized and applauded by critics.<\/p>\n

As well as Toledo, who, nonetheless, points out that \u201cI\u2019ve been told a lot this thing about becoming the voice of a generation, and that I represent a lot of people of my age who need to be seen.\u201d Before this feature, she participated in the La Tristura\u2019s play Future Lovers<\/em>, in which six young people born around 2000 share among them and with the audience their perspectives of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody can have that,\u201d the actress claims, \u201cit\u2019s just that I feel there are a lot of things that are very specific and others that are universal. Of course, when Adri decides to put a spotlight on me, it shows a lot of things that are happening around me, but I don\u2019t think the final intention is that, but instead approaching something more intimate and personal.\u201d \u201cIn everything I\u2019ve done,\u201d she believes, \u201cthe audience is appealed from intimacy and day-to-day life. If I had to be proud, it\u2019d be because of that. Not because I\u2019d be given a voice to the rest of people, but because I\u2019d appear as a reflection in which others could recognize themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, organized by the Culture area of the Gran-Canarian capital\u2019s City Council through Promoci\u00f3n de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has received public assistance by the ICAA [Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts], the Visitors\u2019 Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE), of the Spanish Public Agency for Cultural Action (AC\/E), as well as public support from Promotur Turismo Islas Canarias.<\/p>\n

Among the Festival\u2019s collaborators we may find Fundaci\u00f3n Auditorio Teatro, Cines Yelmo, Las Arenas Shopping Center and Hotel Cristina by Tigotan, places which also function as venues or hold activities of the film event; as well as other institutions and companies such as Sagulpa, Toyota, Royal Bliss, Fuze Tea, Coca Cola, Sholeo Lodge, Audiovisuales Canarias, Music Library &SFX, Blackout Films and International Bach Festival. Likewise, its market, MECAS, has been possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Gran Canaria Film Commission-Sociedad de Promoci\u00f3n Econ\u00f3mica de Gran Canaria and the support of Proexca.<\/p>\n

The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Mid Atlantic University, Digital 104, the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media CIMA, the Cartagena International Film Festival, the Gij\u00f3n International Film Festival, the Barcelona Independent Film Festival, the Tres Puertos Laboratory, Barcelona\u2019s ESCAC, and Very Good Script, Freak World and Fimucit\u00e9 are also collaborators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2022 For the Canarias Cinema section’s closing, Mi ilustr\u00edsimo amigo, by Paula Cons, rediscovers Gald\u00f3s\u2019 side as a lover on the same day that actress Sara Toledo presents Adri\u00e1n Orr\u2019s film A nuestros amigos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":22071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[401],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lpafilmfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}