– Bruna Cusí, Daniela Brown, Nausicaa Bonnín, Greta Fernández and Natalia de Molina star in a film about the clandestine struggle of the Republican school system during the Franco regime in Spain
l-r: Actresses Daniela Brown and Bruna Cusí, director Judith Colell, and actresses Nausicaa Bonnín and Greta Fernández on the set of Maestras (© Andrea Resmini)
The film Maestras (Mestres), directed by Judith Colell (who won the Special Jury Prize at San Sebastián for Elisa K and released Frontier last year), is currently in production.
The lead cast features are Bruna Cusí (Goya winner for Summer 1993 and recently seen in Balandrau: Where the Fierce Wind Blew), Daniela Brown (Holy Mother), Nausicaa Bonnín (Goya nominee for Three Days with the Family and Undercover), Greta Fernández (Silver Shell for Best Actress at San Sebastián for A Thief’s Daughter, also Goya-nominated, and appearing this year in The Guests) and Natalia de Molina (winner of two Goyas, for Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed and Food and Shelter). The cast is completed by Roger Casamajor (who appeared in the series La Mesías and this year in Bad Beast), Mila Borràs, Àgata Roca and Mathieu Molitor.
With a screenplay co-written by producer Antonio Chavarrías and Colell herself, and based on real events, the film is set in 1940. Five young women teachers decide to defy Franco’s dictatorship and fight clandestinely for a humanist education system.
Maestras is a historical drama that depicts the legacy of the Republican school system and the underground resistance of teachers who kept its spirit alive during the Franco regime in Spain. According to the director, “our aim is to place at the heart of the story the unsung work of these teachers and their schools, where a love of culture, language and the education of free citizens was nurtured. Spaces that helped to keep the spirit of the modern school alive in a context as repressive as the post-war Franco era.”
The filmmakers emphasise that the feature film focuses on its characters: the stories of the five protagonists portray, from a realistic and human perspective, both the harshness and repression of the era and the resistance and hope for a better world. Filming, which began recently, will take place over six weeks in the Catalan towns of Barcelona, Mataró and Cardedeu.
Maestras is produced by Antonio Chavarrías for Oberon Media, Tono Folguera for Vilaüt Films and Mestra Media 2024 A.I.E., in co-production with 3Cat and the Belgian company Saga Film. It also receives funding from the ICAA and the ICEC, as well as support from the Movistar Plus+ platform. Distribution in Spain will be handled by Filmax.
(Translated from Spanish)
