Pa negre
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAgustí Villaronga
Screenplay byAgustí Villaronga
StarringFrancesc Colomer
Marina Comas
Nora Navas
Roger Casamajor
Laia Marull
Eduard Fernández
Sergi López
CinematographyAntonio Riestra
Production
companies
Massa d'Or Produccions
TVC
TVE
Release dates
  • 21 September 2010 (2010-09-21) (San Sebastián)
  • 15 October 2010 (2010-10-15) (Spain)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film Spain
LanguageCatalan

Black Bread (Catalan: Pa negre, IPA: [ˈpa ˈnɛɣɾə]) is a 2010 Catalan-language Spanish drama film written and directed by Agustí Villaronga. The screenplay is based on the same-titled novel by Emili Teixidor, with elements of two other works by him, Retrat d'un assassí d'ocells and Sic transit Gloria Swanson.[1]

The film won nine Goya Awards, including best film, best director and best adapted screenplay.

Plot

In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Dionís, a bird dealer, while leading his horse drawn wagon through a darkened forest , is attacked by a man in a hooded cape. The assailant kills Dionis, leads the blindfolded horse to the cliff's edge brutally smashes in it in the face with a sledge hammer. He then pulls the wagon with Dionís and his son Culet off the cliff. Andreu, an 11-year-old boy, discovers the wreckage of the fallen cart. Culet is still alive but manages only to say a word before dying :Pitorliua, the name that villagers have given to ghost believed to live in a cave. The death of Dionís and his son is considered a tragic accident; however the falangist major of the town believed it was a crime suspecting Farriol, Andreu’s father as the culprit. Farriol, who was Dionís’s business partner dealing with birds, is an easy target for incrimination due to his suspicious background as a supportive of the republic, the losing side in the Spanish civil war. Years ago the major and Farriol were rivals vying for the love of Florència, Andreu’s mother, who ultimately chose Farriol as her husband cementing the major resentment against both of them. Fearing for his life Farrol decides to flee and cross the border into France. Florència has to work in a factory in Vic so Andreu is sent to live with his paternal relatives in a houseful of women and children. Àvia, Andreu’s old grandmother, Ció a widower aunt who had a son a few years older than Andreu . Both women work looking after the country home of the richest family of the region the. Manuben. There is also a younger aunt, Enriqueta, who is the talk of the villagers because she is carrying a torrid illicit affair with a civil guard. The grim household is completed with Andreu’s orphan cousin Núria, a maimed but beautiful girl around his age who lost a hand while playing with a grenade.

Cast

Prizes

Goya Awards (Spain)

San Sebastián International Film Festival (Spain)

Gaudí Awards (Catalonia, Spain)

References

  1. ^ «Agustí Villaronga roda "Pa negre", adaptació de la novel·la d'Emili Teixidor», 3cat24.cat, 20 July 2009.

External links

Goya Award for Best Film
Categories