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Sants

Struggling to care for her dying mother, Lali joins a band of thieves that steal religious figures.

synopsis

Lali (30), a drifter, returns to Barcelona to care for her estranged, terminally ill mom, Gloria (50). To pay for her treatments, Lali juggles small jobs and petty thefts, but her life shifts when she meets Rosario (60), the leader of a band of thieves of religious artefacts. Initially driven by money, Lali forms a mentor-disciple bond with Rosario, finding an alternative mother who moves in the shadows, free from the Catholic faith Gloria clings to. Rosario gives her a livelihood and a community. To escape the burden of Gloria’s deterioration, Lali has Rosario’s people care for her mom, but she is running out of time to share with her. Pressed by the need for a big hit, one night, Lali joins the thieves in a pillage. They enter the churches of a medieval city and remove the statues of saints from the altars, with respect, almost like a ritual. When Lali realises Rosario’s greed may put them all in danger, she will have to choose where she truly wants to be as Gloria’s end approaches.

Director’statement

Sants is a character-driven film that plays with the genres of drama and heist to explore the need for ritual and togetherness facing a parent’s death. Set in the world of religious art theft, I want to make a film with a strong sense of place, contrasting a working-class landscape to sacred iconography in Barcelona’s district of Sants. Mixing actors and non-actors, the tone will grow from the real to find mystery. After all, this is a story about thieves and Catholic imagery: the fear of death and the possibility to steal time, not to face it. Do we want to care for our dying parents, or do we feel like we have to? Although I am not Catholic, I have navigated feelings of duty and guilt as a son. That is why I want to take the audience to a brighter place where a daughter and a mother can keep each other company at the end of their relationship. All to make a playful film, where an alternative way opens in the tension between faith and nihilism: for me, this is the way of wonder.

TFL PROGRAMME:
ScriptLab 2024

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