Development and Pre-Production
Project title: Los andares
English title: The campers
Direction: Isa Luengo and Sofía Esteve
Production:
Screenplay: Isa Luengo and Sofia Esteve
Production company: No production company
Duration (estimated): 20′
Genre: Fiction
Budget: €50,000
CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROJECT:
We dedicated the first months of the project to investigating lesbian historical memory during the Franco regime. Thanks to this, we accessed files, police and psychiatric reports, as well as written and photographic testimonies of the experiences of lesbians and other LGTBI people from those years. All this information has generated the breeding ground on which we have created the first version of the script for The campers.
In writing, we want to reflect the key language that the queer community used at that time; as well as construct dialogues that are not very explanatory, where a large part of the characters’ backstory is understood from small gestures, double meanings and half-finished sentences… Therefore, we seek to deepen the writing of the script based on external feedback.
We also want to strengthen the project by delving into the commitment of direction and production.
The campers was part of the Acció Curts 2022 program by Dones Visuals.
NEEDS / OBJECTIVES:
Delving into the writing process, as well as the direction and production commitment, nourishing ourselves with different visions and cinematographic experiences.
SYNOPSIS:
1957. A group of young people “del asunto (of the matter)” (as queer people in Barcelona called themselves in those years), escape into nature for a weekend looking for a space of freedom in which they can live their desire and socialize in peace. Among them is the Woman, eager to reunite with her lover Teresa, who is of a better social position.
But soon, the happiness of the group and the couple will be clouded by the reality of a repression that is difficult to escape, and that raises questions without a simple answer: to stay or go, camouflage or resist, hang on or let go.
NOTE OF INTENTION:
As queer people, we have always been interested in LGTBI experiences of the past, so a year ago we began researching the lesbian historical memory during the Franco dictatorship.
Lesbians were persecuted by the Law of Vagrants and Criminals, and by the Church and the Women’s Protection Patronage, and were confined in prisons, reformatories and psychiatric hospitals.
However, many of them also created spaces of resistance, affection and desire as they were “camping”: spaces for socialization in nature, where up to thirty women gathered.
This premise, which calls into question a univocal story of the past, allows us to leave the explicit violence of the regime out of the narrative, to introduce it more subtly, first feeling the group euphoria to end up understanding the political background that frustrates it.
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE DIRECTORS:
Isa Luengo (Degree in Fine Arts -UCM-, Master in Creative Documentary -UAB- and Netflix-ESCAC Scholarship from the Fund for Inclusive Creativity) and Sofia Esteve (Degree in Audiovisual Communication -UPF-) began working together in 2019.
They have co-written and co-directed the fiction short film Perpetua Felicidad (2022), produced by Aqui y Allí Films and in distribution with Marvin & Wayne.
Previously, Isa created and co-directed the short documentary film La ciutat interior (2017), premiered at IDFA and presented at the Malaga Festival and the FICG, among others. On her side, Sofía created and co-directed the new television format Follo Ergo Sum (2016-2018) for betevé.
Contact: Sofía Esteve
Email: sofia.esteve.santonja17@gmail.com
Telephone: 616 37 12 30
Contact: Isa Luengo
Email: isa_l.g@hotmail.com
Telephone: 661 72 14 28