10/03/2022 - The Spanish director is now in Granada and Madrid shooting this drama film toplined by Emma Suárez, Telmo Irureta and newcomer to movies Valeria Sorolla

Actress Valeria Sorolla, actor Telmo Irureta, director Fernando Franco and actress Emma Suárez during the shoot for La consagración de la primavera (© David Herranz)

Since 21 February, the shoot has been been taking place in Granada and Madrid for The Rite of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Franco and Koldo Z…
film profile], the third film by Fernando Franco, following Wounded [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Franco
film profile] and Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Franco
film profile], both of which were selected for the San Sebastián Film Festival (the former in competition, the latter out of competition). The movie, which will continue its principal photography until the end of March, is toplined by Valeria Sorolla in her first performance in a feature, after having appeared in series such as Moebius and Los protegidos: el regreso; Telmo Irureta (the short film Robarte una noche); and Emma Suárez (whom we saw not so long ago in Josephine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], five years after she won her second and third Goya Awards for Julieta [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] and The Next Skin [+see also:
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interview: Isa Campo, Isaki Lacuesta
film profile]).

With a screenplay written by the director in tandem with Begoña Arostegui (who regularly partners up with the helmer and is responsible for the short films Yo and El lugar adecuado), The Rite of Spring introduces us to Laura (played by Valeria Sorolla), who has just arrived in Madrid to start living in a hall of residence and study Chemistry. All alone and penniless, she tries to adapt to life at university while grappling with her own insecurities. One night, she meets David (Telmo Irureta), a boy with cerebral palsy who lives with his mother, Isabel (Emma Suárez). A relationship of trust blossoms between them and Laura, which helps her overcome her complexes and face up to a new stage on the road to her coming of age. Thus, this is a story about that crucial moment when anything is possible, and about how the most unexpected of encounters can change the course of your whole life.

Seville-born filmmaker Franco (who is also an editor; his latest work with this hat on was One Year, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isaki Lacuesta
film profile] by Isaki Lacuesta, a film that was presented in competition at the most recent Berlinale) admits, “From Wounded, you can clearly see my tastes in a type of cinema that’s grounded in painting a psychological portrait of characters that are going through certain emotional situations at a crossroads in life. Laura comes from a conservative environment that is a far cry from what she finds at David’s house: a kind of haven of tolerance that she’s not used to at all. Her coming of age will fundamentally consist of reconsidering the deep-seated notions that she had been carrying around with her, and realising that everything is a fair bit more ambiguous than certain black-and-white moral categorisations. She is a character who inevitably reflects that situation that we have all been through at one point or another: emancipation, flying the nest and forging your own personality.”

The Rite of Spring – which sees Santiago Racaj taking on DoP duties, Carmen Albacete heading up the art direction and Miguel Doblado serving as editor – is a LAZONA, Kowalski Films and Ferdydurke Films production. It boasts the involvement of Canal Sur, Movistar Plus+ and Cosmopolitan, and is being made in collaboration with the Community of Madrid. It has secured support from the Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions and funding from the ICAA. Its release is slated for autumn this year.

(Translated from Spanish)