Gurrea's 'Saints' Stars Luengo as Religious Art Thief — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Mikel Gurrea directed 'Saints,' picked up for international sales by M-Appeal, after being inspired by a locked church in Barcelona's Sants district where he lives.
- Victoria Luengo stars as Lali, a character Gurrea first imagined crying in a hospital chapel before stealing a saint statue — a scene of 'playfulness and perhaps some real sorrow.'
- Luengo and Gurrea workshopped the role on trips to the desert, with the final script co-written by Gurrea and Francisco Kosterlitz.
- Ariadna Gil ('Pan's Labyrinth') plays Gloria, Lali's estranged mother whose care demands pull the protagonist back to Barcelona.
- Gurrea's research into 20th-century church thief Erik the Belgian shaped the film's view of iconoclasm and idolatry as 'two faces of the same coin.'
- Lali joins Rosario's gang stealing religious objects with a ritualistic care, and Rosario becomes 'an alternative mother' as the heist and family plots converge.
Why it matters: M-Appeal has acquired international sales rights for 'Saints,' reuniting director Gurrea with star Luengo after 'Suro.' The film pairs a religious-art heist plot with a story about caring for an estranged parent, a structure the director says mirrors 'iconoclasm and idolatry as two faces of the same coin.'
Ask SkimNews
