It could be said that Juan Fernández Montoya, FarruquitoHe grew up with a camera in front of him. From his earliest childhood, he was always in front of home video recorders, as well as following the directions of filmmakers like Carlos SauraThe Sevillian flamenco dancer has accumulated, perhaps without realizing it, thousands of hours of footage. However, until now he had not faced the challenge of telling his life story and that of his family in a film, and that is what he does in You'll be Farruquito, the feature-length documentary that has been screened these days as part of the Seville European Film Festival.
“It has been very difficult and very hard, but at the same time it has also been very beautiful, because It was done with all the love, from the heart, and from the truth.“We haven’t revealed anything about our philosophy or way of life that people don’t already know,” the artist asserts, “but the details we have shared are interesting and very exciting.”
Farruquito emphasizes that this intimate family portrait is not only delivered through words, “but we are fortunate to have an incredible, unpublished archive, not only of what we have rescued from the BBC, Spanish Television, Canal Plus, even from files that I had recorded myself with my own camera and which we digitized to include in the film. For that reason alone, I think it's worth watching.”
The directors Santi Aguado y Reuben Atlas remember for expoflamenco How it all began. “The project has a rather curious origin,” the first one explains.Ami Minars, who is the American executive director of the documentary, is an expert in flamenco and producer of flamencoand had a very close relationship with The FarrucaShe had taken him to New York many times, so she was very interested in producing a documentary about Farruquito. She brought Reuben Atlas on board, who, when he met the dancer, realized that he was a very special figure, with an incredible story behind himAnd they started out on their own. Until, at a certain point, they realized they needed a partner in Spain, because almost everything was going to end up being recorded here.”
"When you delve into Farruquito's life, you realize he has a fascinating life. Not only his own, but that of his entire family, which is one of the most important flamenco dynasties in history. We weren't even aware of Farruco's artistic stature. That's when the narrative really opened up for us."
“Reuben called me; we had a good relationship from a long time ago. About ten years ago, he directed a documentary about another family of musicians called Brothers Hypnotic"I had also made a music video for some of them, so we were already somewhat connected by a certain musical sensibility. The three of us had a meeting with Farruquito, and we realized that we were very much on the same page, that we had the same vision, and I obviously wanted to take on the project from the beginning, because I knew there was a great story behind the character."
The film's synopsis speaks of rise, fall, and redemption, meaning that no delicate moment in the dancer's biography has been left untouched: not the early loss of his father, nor the death of his grandfather and mentor, nor the unfortunate accident that landed him in jail… “Yes, what we were clear about from the beginning, after many conversations with Farruquito, is that we didn't want to make a film about that event, because In our opinion, it would have been a much worse and less interesting film.But we were also aware that it was an important chapter in Juan's life that we couldn't ignore. So what the three of us agreed on was that it should be something notable within the film, but one chapter among many others.”
“I will never be able to normalize what happened, because a sorrow is a sorrow and pain will always be pain.”“It’s true that with time one can talk about sorrow and pain,” the dancer confesses, “not for the sake of talking about it itself, but because one can’t only tell two sides of their life story; they have to tell all the sides, the ones they like most and the ones they like least. That’s what we’ve done, always with respect. There’s no other way to do it. How do you tell your life story if you don’t go through each chapter, at least the most relevant ones or those that have marked you the most? The hardest part is always the accident, obviously, because everyone experiences a family loss, although The two losses I suffered, my grandfather and my father, were very hard for me; I think it will be difficult for me to talk about them for the rest of my life.Because it's something that never enters into one's plans. Then the script takes that path and all one can say is: God willing, and that's it."
Aside from this tragic event, the directors believe that “when you delve into Farruquito’s life, you realize he had a fascinating life. Not only his own, but that of his entire family, which is one of the most important flamenco dynasties in history. For example, we weren’t even aware of the artistic stature he possessed.” farrucoThat's when the narrative really opened up for us."
According to Atlas, “it wasn’t until I saw Saura’s films and truly understood the respect he demanded in a scene, the necessity of being present in a scene, and why it was important, that I grasped it all, or at least that small aspect of it. But, you know, it’s one of the most unique art forms I’ve ever experienced. Juan lent us a large part of his personal archive, but then our colleague Sofia Tirado She found some Farruco jewelry that was a real gift. And seeing Juan in his time, seeing him grow as an artist in the archive, is incredible. We could have made a series dedicating an episode to each member of his family.”
"The film's synopsis speaks of rise, fall, and redemption, which means that no delicate moment in the dancer's biography has been left untouched: neither the early loss of his father, nor the death of his grandfather and mentor, nor the unfortunate accident that landed him in jail..."
As a curious side note, the team found a BBC recording that none of them knew about, “Images of Farruco when he was very young, with a bird's-eye view of a beautiful Andalusian villageAnd Farruquito, when he saw those images, was completely stunned because he had never seen them before. Even for him, it was a process of discovering material that he himself didn't know existed, and he was totally blown away.”
The remaining materials include footage such as The first time he performs with his son at a La Latina Theatre...or his first solo show, in Jerez de la Frontera. They also performed in Utrera, in homage to his father, The Moreno“We try to be there at the right times, during that period of time we’ve been recording with him, which has been two years, a year and a half,” they say.
For Santi Aguado, the final portrait is of “someone everyone tells me is a genius. I'm no expert in flamencoI can't say if he's a genius, but I have seen, firstly, a great deal of genius in his work, which has, I would say, captivated me at times. And the second thing that I think is important to emphasize is that He's a hard worker like few others I've ever seen. He's someone who's been putting in countless hours to dance since he was very little.He is a person who is totally dedicated to his art, and that also partly explains his genius.”
Finally, when the artist is asked what he hopes that You'll be Farruquito When asked about its contribution to his career, he responds instantly: “I didn’t make this film to contribute anything to my career. I made this film to contribute something to my heart.” ♦
