A film by MARC SERENA
with JUAN TOMÁS ÁVILA LAUREL
Writer Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel had to flee Equatorial Guinea in 2011, after going on a hunger strike against Teodoro Obiang’s dictatorship, the longest lasting in the world. Now he resides as a refugee in Spain, the former colonial power, but longs the country where he lived for 40 years. Until he decides to take a step forward.
Feature documentary. 82 minutes. Spanish/Annobonese Creole. 2019.
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel (1966) is Equatorial Guinea’s most translated writer. He is from Annobón, a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean, although he has been living most of his life in the capital, Malabo. He writes in Spanish and has published twenty titles in different genres.
He is mostly known for his novel By Night the Mountain Burns, shortlisted at the UK 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It was the second Equatorial Guinea book ever translated in English. He has also written The load (1999), Airplane of the Rich, Thief of Pigs (2008) and Panga Rilene (2016). His latest novel published is English is The Gurugu Pledge (2017).
He was worked as a nurse, editor and candy street vendor. He actually lives in exile in Spain, after a hunger strike against the regime of Teodoro Obiang. His work is studied by scholars around the world.
The team
Marc Serena (1983) codirected the award-winning documentary Tchindas (2015), broadcasted at PBS (US) and nominated by the Africa Film Academy at the AMAA Awards (Nigeria). He has written three books and has been translated into Chinese and Korean.
With music from: Concha Buika, Pau de Nut,
Negro Bey, Jamin and Charli Weezy
Editor:
Emanuele Tiziani
DoP:
Josep Gutiérrez
Animation and graphic identity:
Taller Estampa
Sound:
Verònica Font
Colour postproduction:
Artic
Executive production:
Marc Serena and Toni Espinosa
Gallery
Reviews
“Hope and despair wrestle in Ávila Laurel’s work”
Financial Times (UK)
“His books will echo in its readers’ heads for a long time”
The Guardian (UK)
“As Frantz Fanon, Ávila Laurel traces the paths of memory”
Elisa G. Rizo, Iowa State University (US)
“Beyond Latin America, there is also a Latin Africa”
Schwäbisches Tagblatt (Germany)
“A must-watch movie to understand a country that was once Spanish”
elPeriódico (Spain)
“The first film willing to explain Obiang’s regime”
El Antepenúltimo Mohicano (Spain)
“An honest, critical examination of the country”
Africa Is a Country (US)
“Sober images, without embellishment”
Freies Radio (Germany)
“The film enters with a camera in an outlaw territory that still suppurates Spanish fascism.”
El País (Spain)
“A film that comes to settle a historical debt”
Caimán-Cuadernos de cine (Spain)
“One of the best of the year”
Eldiario.es (Spain)
“One of the docs of the year”
Betevé (Spain)
“Repetitive and deeply anti-Spanish”
Episcopal Conference of Spain
Watch
4-10th October. Toulouse (France). French premiere at Cinespaña.
8th October. 17h. London (UK). Conference at London Spanish Book Fair.
9th October. Modena (Italy). Finalist at DIG Awards at the best investigative journalism.
14th October. 11h. Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain). Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya. With Amics de la UNESCO.
14th October. Barcelona (Spain). Cineclub del Reial Cercle Artístic.
15th October. Frankfurt (Germany). Screening at Frankfurt Book Fair.
15-22th October. Bilbao (Spain). International Unseen Film Festival “Film Sozialak”.
23th October. Sagunt (Spain).
6th November. 21h. Cassà de la Selva (Spain). Cineclub. With cineclub & Terra Gollut Festival.
10th November. Oviedo (Spain). Teatro Filarmónica.
19th November. Barcelona (Spain). Ateneu del Poble Nou.
27th November. Mollet del Vallès (Spain).
4-9th December. Tarifa (Spain). Festival de Cine Africano.
12-13th December. Barcelona (Spain). Fira Literal.
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Produced by Fora de Quadre and Toned Media
International sales: The Open Reel
info@elescritordeunpais.com