– Ángela Molina will star in this adaptation of the novel of the same name by Agustín Gómez Arcos, whose sales will be managed by Film Factory Entertainment
Actress-director Paz Vega during the shoot for her previous film, Rita
Spanish actress Paz Vega, who won a Goya Award for Sex and Lucia, successfully established herself as a writer-director with Rita, her feature debut, which was premiered on the Piazza Grande at Locarno, also picking up a nod for the Goya Award for Best New Director. Now, the Seville-born helmer is prepping the production of her sophomore feature, titled Ana no, which will begin shooting in Spain in the autumn, on location in Andalusia and in the Community of Madrid, as well as in Italy, in the Sardinia region. The film will be toplined by seasoned thesp Ángela Molina, who won the Silver Shell at San Sebastián in 1986 for Half of Heaven, has been nominated five times for a Goya Award, and was seen recently in They Will Be Dust and Aquí.
Ana no is the film adaptation of the novel of the same name published in 1977 by late Andalusian author Agustín Gómez Arcos, who lived in exile in France and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize on various occasions. The recent documentary Un hombre libre took a closer look at his life.
The plot introduces us to Ana Paucha (played by Ángela Molina), who calls herself Ana no, an impoverished 75-year-old widow who lives in a small village in Almeria. Her husband and her two eldest children died in the war, and her youngest son has been in prison in the north of Spain for the last 30 years. Ana feels as though her own death is imminent and so decides to lock up her house forever. Carrying nothing more than an olive-oil sponge cake, she embarks on a voyage northwards to embrace her son for the last time and give him the cake, which he used to love so much when he was young. It is a coming-of-age journey across late-1960s-era Spain, during which Ana will come to know herself while encountering characters along the way that will lead her to question her place in the world and the overarching meaning of humanity.
Vega states, “For me, the original thing about Ana no hinges on putting a starving elderly woman at the centre of the story – a figure who is almost invisible to society but who, against all odds, embarks on a heartrending, personal and epic journey that will tug at the viewer’s heartstrings because of its inherent realism and grittiness. Her path towards death will also paint the portrait of a country scarred by a war between brothers, and of a whole generation of silenced, forgotten women. […] I’m going for a simple, stripped-down and evocative film language, where images, silences and gestures carry more weight than words. The camera will accompany Ana closely and respectfully, allowing her gaze to serve as our guide as we traverse this broken landscape. Thus, the script and the direction will go hand in hand to build an atmospheric and strangely beautiful film experience that is more suggestive than explanatory, while always respecting the spirit of Arcos’s novel,” sums up the filmmaker.
Ana no is a production being staged by Marta Velasco for Áralan Films and Paul Mateos Verdejo for Blacklight Films, both of which are Spanish companies, together with Andrea Di Blasio and Luca Cabriolu for Italy’s Ombre Rosse Film Production, with Sandra Rodríguez on board as executive producer. It boasts the involvement of RTVE, Canal Sur, Movistar Plus+ and HBO Max, and has secured funding from the ICAA. BTeam Pictures will release it in Spain, and Film Factory Entertainment will be entrusted with its international sales.
(Translated from Spanish)
