Rafael Alcázar: “In this documentary I have avoided controversy”

The 67th edition of Seminci screened the documentary Clara Campoamor, un voto para despertar on 26 October as part of the DOC. España section, the documentary Clara Campoamor, un voto para despertar. The presentation was given by its director Rafael Alcázar.

“In this documentary I have avoided controversy. What interests me is what she did, what her life was like and, above all, that she was a woman with an impressive will and intelligence and an exemplary sense of morality”, said Alcázar.

From her exile in Argentina, Clara Campoamor arrives in Madrid to find out if she will be able to return to Spain. While she waits nervously, she visits the places that have most marked her life, such as the neighbourhood of her childhood, her lawyer’s office (she was the first lawyer in Spain, along with Victoria Kent) and the Ateneo (Athenaeum). The Post Office building takes us to San Sebastián, where she worked as a telephone operator. The most important, however, is the Palacio de las Cortes. She was a member of parliament and drafter of the Republican constitution. Through her tenacity she managed to obtain recognition of women’s right to vote. A historic step in gender equality.

“I have avoided giving certain facts so that everyone can judge what they want. I have tried, as the author, to contaminate the character and the story as little as possible”, explained the director.