Nominated for seven Gaudí Awards including Best Director and Best Catalan Language Film, filmmaker Lucía Alemany is an exciting new talent to watch. Premiering in the acclaimed New Directors program at the 2019 San Sebastián International Film Festival, her first feature film The Innocence is a coming-of-age tale of adolescent angst.
In a career-making performance, newcomer Carmen Arrufat plays Lis, a 15-year-old-girl stuck in a small Spanish town with big dreams of leaving home and studying at a circus academy in Barcelona. It’s summertime and Lis spends her days on the village streets with her friends and flirting with her older boyfriend, Nestor. The town’s lack of privacy compels Lis to keep her relationship with Nestor a secret, and so she fights for her independence in the face of an unaccepting, conservative community.
Set in a village in Castellón – the same area where Alemany grew up – there is a strong autobiographical element to the film, and it is this spirit of authenticity that makes The Innocence a truly unforgettable and moving journey.
Tuesday 20th April
92 min
18+
Film Festival
