The documentary film Antonio, the dancer from Spain, written and directed by Paco Ortiz, will have its premiere on April 29, International Dance Day, in the framework of Saraqusta Film Festival (Zaragoza International Historical Film Festival).
Antonio, the dancer from Spain recovers the memory of the forgotten iconic artist who brought Spanish dance to the international stage, placing it on the same level as opera, music or classical ballet. With this purpose, film part of the conversations that he himself Antonio maintained with his friend the journalist Santy ArriazuAn autobiography recorded on cassette tapes, this exclusive collection of material where Antonio recounts, in his own voice, the details of his personal and professional career. These tapes served as the starting point for the biography Arriazu published in 2004, and in this film, they serve as the first-person voiceover and the guiding thread of his fascinating life story.
The film combines fictional sequences in which the conversations that took place between Antonio and Arriazu between 1983 and 1984, played by the actors, are recreated. Juanlu Corrientes and Nestor Barea respectively, with the testimony of colleagues who have been interviewed for the occasion, such as the interpreters Nacho Duato, Ruben Olmo, Antonio Canales, Victor Ullate, Aida Gomez (dancer and former director of the national ballet), Carmen Roche and Carmen Rojas (Antonio's dance partners), José Antonio (dancer who directed the national ballet), Maria Rosa (dancer), and experts like Marta Carrasco, Manuel Curao, Cristina Cruces, Julián “The Child of Oblivion” (youtuber, researcher and film expert), Maite Pulpón (living memory of the golden age of flamenco), Cristina Hereen, Rosalia Gomez (curator of the Antonio exhibition) or Santy Arriazu himself. The interviews bring rigor and objectivity to a story that is also illustrated with an important selection of archival images of Antonio's public life and work, compiling his work and creating a great audiovisual document that demonstrates that in Spain there was a unique man whom everyone knew as Antonio, someone who never needed his last name to achieve success.
«Antonio, the dancer from Spain recovers the memory of the forgotten iconic artist who brought Spanish dance to the international stage, placing it on the same level as opera, music or classical ballet. Lthe movie part of the conversations that he himself Antonio maintained with his friend the journalist Santy Arriazu»
With everything, Antonio, the dancer from Spain It comes to recognize and rescue from oblivion for the new generations the figure of who, next to Carmen amaya, marked a time of splendor in 20th century Spanish dance. Abused by an era in which being different was punishable by imprisonment, it could be said that Antonio the Dancer, dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur, artist, creator, universal figure and standard-bearer of recognition of flamenco and Spanish dance internationally, he was the best ambassador of Spain during a turbulent time and, according to many, one of the geniuses of the 20th century and the best Spanish dancer of all time.
Produced by Sarao Films and The Panda, the documentary It has the participation of RTVE, Canal Sur TV, and the Regional Government of Andalusia, as well as the support of the Regional Government of Andalusia. It is written and directed by the Huelva filmmaker Paco Ortiz, and produced by José Carlos de Isla, who repeat the x-ray of Andalusian characters who have stood out for their artistic career, with such celebrated works in their filmography as Marisol, Call Me Pepa (2024), Forqué Award and Nominated for the Goya for Best Documentary in 2024, Hannibal. The architect of Seville (2023) Something Wild. The Story of Bambino (2021), Carmen Award for Best Andalusian Documentary, 13. Miguel Poveda (2015), nominated for the Forqué Awards, Caressing the Air. Matilde Coral (2016) o It is prohibited to cante (2019)
