21/03/2022 - The Catalonian producer-director is poised to premiere her new film, revolving around an artist questioning her role in society, at the Málaga Film Festival

In her most recent opus, Francesca & Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Alba Sotorra – who was Goya-nominated for The Return: Life After ISIS [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – paints an intimate portrait of a woman who refuses to do what others expect of her, in terms of complying with societal templates such as age, social class and gender. The film will be premiered in the Documentaries section of the 25^th Málaga Film Festival (18-27 March).

Her experience by the side of Francesca Llopis, the protagonist of the feature, turned out to be a learning process for her: “Her creative capacity, zest for life and sensitivity are what constitute the foundations for the creation of a character propped up by this free spirit, and call into question the stereotypes of old age, which are so firmly embedded in society and in film.”

Francesca is a visual artist from Barcelona who understands life in the same way as she understands her art: from the point of view of freedom, experimentation and playfulness. When her daughter Djuna leaves home to go and live abroad, she sees herself plunged into a situation of unfamiliar and unprecedented independence, and, spurred on by her friends, she sets up a profile for herself on Tinder.

The documentary depicts an act of rebellion by a woman who does not wish to do what is expected of her in terms of her age, gender and social class, the challenge of facing up to the solitude of growing old, the healing power of art, and the kaleidoscopic nature of love.

Francesca & Love is a French-Spanish production by Alba Sotorra Producciones (which was behind the recent film My Emptiness and I [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrián Silvestre
film profile], which will also compete in Málaga, albeit in its official section) and Urban Factory, which secured support from the ICAA, Eurimages, the Regional Government of Catalonia and the Catalonian Institute of Cultural Businesses. Its distribution in France is handled by Urban Distribution International, while its international sales have been entrusted to Reservoir Docs.

Check the exclusive trailer and poster below:

(Translated from Spanish)