समाचार

The loose, lolling chapters of “The Girls Are Alright” are marked and separated by a simple visual motif: for each one, a different close-up panel of ornately illustrated Toile de Jouy fabric, rendered in various pastel shades against a calico background. The material’s distinctive period pastoral scenes, depicting gussied-up women in various states of passive repose and their corresponding noblemen, contrast pleasingly with the more modern, less dependent portrait of 21st-century femininity presented in Spanish writer-director-star Itsaso Arana’s short, sweet, winsome freshman feature. When its female characters don Toile-appropriate corsets and hoop skirts, it’s with a postmodern, literally performative sense of irony.

For the five women descending on a sleepy, tucked-away villa at the outset of Arana’s film are all in the theater — four of them actors, one a playwright — with the reflective, hyper-examined ways of being that come with that environment, where even real life...

Spanish actress Itsaso Arana proves that “Girls Are Alright” with her directorial debut, vying for the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Known to the festival’s audience thanks to Jonás Trueba’s “August Virgin,” which she also co-wrote, she is currently readying their next project, set to shoot in the autumn.

“That experience, as well as his other films I starred in, have been profoundly significant in my life. Jonás is a great inspiration,” says Arana. But after years of collaborations, however satisfying, she is ready to venture out on her own.

“I have always created collectively or in a partnership, and I needed to prove to myself I was capable of leading a project. For better or worse, it’s mine,” she says, calling the process “healing.”

“I feel like acting, writing and directing, at least as I experience it, are part of the same thing. These...

Bendita Film Sales has grown its slate acquiring Itsaso Arana’s directorial debut “The Girls Are Alright,” (“Las chicas están bien”).

The acquisition marks the latest pick up by the Tenerife based-outfit following recent announcements on Juan Sebastián Torales’ “Almamula,” and Lois Patiño’s “Samsara,” both featuring at the Berlinale. The film has already secured domestic distribution in Spain with Elástica Films.

“Itsaso gave us the chance to read one of the first versions of the script for ‘The Girls Are Alright.’ We immediately fell in love and realized that we were dealing with a singular talent, with a unique vision,” said Luis Renart, head of Bendita Film Sales. “It has been a pleasure to follow the evolution of this project and to finally discover this beautiful, festive and unique film, which we are thrilled to bring to audiences around the world,” he added.

Arana has built a strong reputation in film,...