Celia Viada Caso recovers the legacy of republican-era photographer Benjamina Miyar in ‘La Calle del Agua’ [Del Agua Street]

The documentary film La Calle del Agua [Del Agua Street] was presented today Thursday, October 28th, 2021, in the Spanish Cinema section of the 66th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival, in a session attended by the director, Celia Viada Caso, and the producer Ángeles Caso. The latter emphasized that her daughter “is the true architect of this piece, a real jewel made with little money and with a gigantic effort, by Celia and the small team of generous people, colleagues and friends who wanted to participate.”

The darkness that shrouded Spain during the fascist dictatorship relegated the figure of many talented women to oblivion. La Calle del Agua, by Asturian Celia Viada Caso, offers us a peephole through which to discover the life of one of them, Benjamina Miyar (1888-1961), a republican-era photographer who lived at the foot of the Picos de Europa mountains, in Asturias from 1881 to 1961. “I came across her by chance. I found a story full of gaps, silences, holes. The story is precisely about all that which cannot be told, and I leave spaces so that the spectators can also fill in those gaps, as I myself also do in my film,” explained the director.

Benjamina led an unusual life in her house on Calle del Agua. A watchmaker for over forty years and a member of the anti-fascist resistance, her life and work disappeared after her death. The film received seven awards at the Gijón Festival, including the FIPRESCI, Best Director, Audience and Best Screenplay Awards.

The next screening of the feature-length film will be on Saturday 30th at 16:15h at Broadway Cinemas.