LOS DOMINGOS

Spain

Fiction
SUNDAYS tells the story of Ainara, a brilliant and idealistic 17-year-old who must decide what university degree to pursue – or at least that’s what her family expects of her. However, she reveals that she feels increasingly closer to God and is considering embracing the life of a cloistered nun. The news takes her entire family by surprise, creating a rift and putting them all to the test.

Written & directed by: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
Produced by: Luisa María “Marisa“ Fernández Armenteros, Alejandra “Sandra“ Hermida, Nahikari Ipiña, Manuel Calvo
Cinematography: Bet Rourich
Editing: Andrés Gil
Production Design: Zaloa Ziluaga
Costume Design: Ana Martínez Fesser
Make-Up & Hair: Ainhoa Eskisabel, Jone Gabarain
Sound: Andrea Sáenz Pereiro, Mayte Cabrera
Visual Effects: José Rossi
Casting: Eva Leira, Yolanda Serrano
Cast: Blanca Soroa (Ainara), Patricia López Arnaiz (Maite), Miguel Garcés (Iñaki), Nagore Aranburu (Madre Isabel)

Statement of the director:
Difficult dilemmas are my motivation.
That place where you find yourself between what you should do, what you want to do, and what you feel.
SUNDAYS comes to mind as a result of an anecdote I heard a long time ago: an 18-year-old girl decided to enter a cloistered convent overnight. Her family's attempts to convince her not to do so were in vain. Why does anyone become a cloistered nun at that age? Why decide to withdraw from the world just as your adult life begins?
How can you convince someone that this adult life is worthwhile when the outside world can be uncertain and difficult?
The cloistered vocation is perhaps one of the most extreme expressions of the search for one’s place in the world, and it soon seemed to me like the perfect excuse to question the family as our natural refuge. At the end of the day, whether we're atheists, agnostics, or believers, we need to believe in something to continue. We all take a leap of faith, commit to different relationships without any absolute proof that it's real. It feels real, and that's enough for us. Some believe in God, others in their partners, and some believe in family as something inseparable. The film is titled SUNDAYS because for Catholics, Sunday is the Lord's Day, and for many families, it's a day of reunion and reunion, often obligatory. How many families argue for hours about where to celebrate Christmas? How many are lazy about family commitments? That's where this story begins, which talks about how difficult it is to break away from family because, even if they're not present, family ties are not interchangeable. The religious and spiritual aspects are very present in the film. The rituals, the vocational processes, the convent routine, even the type of intimate conversation a priest may have with a minor during spiritual direction: I have tried to portray this universe from a very rigorous perspective, after having conducted arduous research. As a filmmaker, I have opted for a certain nakedness in the language, allowing the characters to breathe as they are, and allowing us to observe them intimately, yet from a distance. At the same time, I have seen how the spiritual has seeped into the formal through many cracks. In the same way that what the characters don't say to each other is as important, if not more so, than what they do say, I have also carefully chosen what remains off-screen, what cannot be seen ... like the divine figures or statues. I have opted for a single soundtrack: a choir. This choral music imbues everyday life with a different depth, a certain sense of poetry, vulnerability. The spiritual is present in the convent, but also outside of it. It's not a spiritual or religious dimension, but an emotional one. That more invisible something that surrounds us all. The fragility of things. The loss of people we love. The split-ups that happen without shouting or arguments. The uncertain first loves. The abyss that opens while it seems nothing is happening.
The need to love or be loved accompanies us our entire lives along with the feeling that everyone needs to believe in something.

Production:
Los desencuentros película
https://buenapintamedia.com

World Sales:
Le Pacte
https://le-pacte.com

Press/Social Media Agency:
Ellas Comunicación
https://ellascomunicacion.com