“Hafreiat”, Alex Sardàs´s debut film, at the 67th Seminci

The DOC Spain Section of the Valladolid International Film Week screened Alex Sardà‘s feature film, Hafreiat, at the Broadway Cinemas on Tuesday 25 October. This screening was the national premiere of the film.

The presentation was attended by the director Alex Sardà himself, who has made his debut in the world of documentaries with this film shot in Jordan. This story based on real events has counted with the collaboration of Mohammad Al Qaisl, Dya Al Qaisl, Maysoon Zrliqat, Juan José Ibáñez, Abdullah Al Awajil, Kamel Al Otoum.

Hafreiat is set in a Spanish archaeological mission in the north of Jordan, where local workers dig in the earth for long hours. Wages are poor and day-to-day prices are rising.

The plot is based on the story of Abo Dya, a Palestinian Jordanian who wants to give his family a different life, but his criminal record hinders his efforts. “We wanted to tell something through the protagonist, in another context he would have been an artist or an actor, he would lead the scenes, he had an innate sensitivity and know- how in front of the camera”, this is how Sardá referred to the protagonist of the story. And if there is something special about this play, it is that the characters are not actors, they are “people telling their own story”, with whom they are currently in contact.

The director confesses that the play was recorded without knowing one hundred percent of what the actors were saying, as “the translator couldn’t quite translate”. In general terms, the director defines his feature film as a work of documentary archaeology in which “there has been a very strong connection with the actors”, concludes the young man from Barcelona.