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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Spain

Juanma Bajo Ulloa nurturing his new Baby

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- The Spanish filmmaker is back in the director’s chair with a psychological suspense flick about problematic motherhood, featuring sparse dialogue and starring Rosie Day and Harriet Sansom Harris

Juanma Bajo Ulloa nurturing his new Baby
Harriet Sansom Harris and Rosie Day in Baby

Shot last summer over a period of six weeks, at various locations in the provinces of Álava and Biscay, Baby [+see also:
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– which is currently in post-production – will be the sixth fiction film by Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Vitoria, 1967), a director who, at the tender age of 24, scooped the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival with his feature debut, Alas de mariposa. This movie was followed by others such as La madre muerta, Airbag, Frágil and Gypsy King [+see also:
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(2015). Now he is back with another psychological drama, shot in the Basque language and featuring sparse dialogue, in which motherhood will be a driver of conflict.

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Starring British actress Rosie Day (Down a Dark Hall [+see also:
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) and US thesp Harriet Sansom Harris (Phantom Thread), flanked by Natalia Tena, Charo López (returning to screens after a lengthy absence) and young Mafalda Carbonell (the daughter of comedian Pablo Carbonell, whom we saw not long ago in Vivir dos veces [+see also:
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by María Ripoll), Baby – the screenplay of which was penned by the director – portrays how a young drug addict gives birth in the middle of one of her seizures. Incapable of taking care of the baby, she sells it to a midwife who dabbles in child trafficking. Riddled with regret, the girl will then attempt to get her offspring back.

“The main character is born of a cynical society that is intoxicated by materialism and which worships the banal, a society that neither offers her a chance of redemption nor forgives her mistake, her lack of wisdom or perhaps even her weakness. It’s a society where failures are looked upon with particular disdain, mistakes are stigmatised and, in many cases, losers are condemned to be social outcasts. Nevertheless, life always gives us another chance because new life begins every day. And life is what will place in the protagonist’s hands the opportunity to find courage, strength and the will to rise up, to overcome pain and fear, and maybe to finally tread her own path,” remarks Bajo Ulloa about his new outing.

Baby, which boasts cinematography by José María Civit (The King of Havana [+see also:
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) and a score composed by Koldo Uriarte and Bingen Mendizábal (El juego del ahorcado [+see also:
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), is a Frágil Zinema production, which saw the involvement of the Basque Government, the Álava Provincial Council, the Vitoria City Council and Televisión Española. It is being made in conjunction with Caja Rural de Navarra and the Vital Foundation. The film was part of the Fantastic 7 project run by the Sitges and Cannes Film Festivals (see the news).

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(Translated from Spanish)

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