Cinema
La piel quemada
José María Forn · 1967
Synopsis
Lloret de Mar, on the Costa Brava, in the sixties. José, a bricklayer from Andalusia, works on the building sites opened up by the tourist boom and begins his day. At the same time, in an Andalusian village, his wife Juana and their two children, with Manolo, board the train to join him and live in Catalonia. The film follows together the last night José spends alone, among comrades and tourists, and his family's long journey, made in poor conditions and in the hope of a better life.
Context
The idea came on a beach at Roses, where the director saw side by side workers burnt by the sun of their labour and holidaymakers stretched out on the sand. The film thus sets against each other, on the Catalan coast of the mid-sixties, the bricklayers who came from the south in search of a wage and the tourists from the north who came in search of leisure, in the age of economic development promoted by the regime. A first shoot, in 1965, was halted after two days, and the film was resumed the following year with a different cast. It deals with migration to Catalonia despite the censorship of the time, in the neorealist line of Bardem.
Who it is for
A black-and-white drama, neorealist in tone, that runs two stories side by side: the night of a man alone and the journey of his family.
Prizes and reception
Award for best actress for Marta May and for best screenplay from the Cinematographic Writers' Circle; Fotogramas de Plata for Antonio Iranzo in 1967.