The first Spanish film in competition at Cannes, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, premiered Saturday with Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo in the lead roles. The movie explores the reunion of a father and daughter after 13 years apart.
Bardem and Luengo play a film director and his actress daughter who reunite in a restaurant after more than a decade apart. The opening sequence was shot in a single 90-minute take without prior rehearsals between them.
The story unfolds during the making of a film about the Sahara, a theme Bardem links to personal and political abandonments. “It is a very forgotten conflict that must continue to be denounced,” the actor said.
Bardem also addressed his stance on Gaza. “Neutrality is no longer an option at the moment we are living in,” he stated. He thanked screenwriter Paul Laverty for mentioning possible blacklists in Hollywood and said his career has not been affected.
The film, which opens simultaneously in French theaters, will reach Spain on August 26. Sorogoyen and screenwriter Isabel Peña highlighted the pleasure of shooting a movie within a movie.
