Carolina África, director of ‘Verano en diciembre’: ‘They are missing out on gems by not calling theatre actors to make films’

• The debut feature film by the actress, screenwriter and theatre director features Carmen Machi, Victoria Luengo, Carmen Machi, Beatriz Grimaldos and Lola Cordón.
• It is an adaptation of the play with the same title written by Carolina África in the Official Section.

Valladolid, 19 October 2024. The director, playwright and actress Carolina África presented today at the 69th SEMINCI her directorial debut, Verano en diciembre, accompanied by almost all the actresses starring in this story about family ties that adapts the play of the same name, winner of the 2012 Calderón de la Barca National Prize: Carmen Machi, Victoria Luengo, Bárbara Lennie and Beatriz Grimaldos. This film will have its world premiere this evening at the RTVE Gala to be held at the Calderón Theatre in Valladolid.

Verano en diciembre, whose title refers to the month in which Carolina África (Vientos de Levante, Otoño en abril) wrote the play that has now been adapted for film in Buenos Aires, when it was summer there, premiered in a theatrical version at the Cervantes Theatre in Valladolid, and now the film adaptation, directed by the author herself, is doing the same. According to the director, the differences between theatre and film are centred on the number of rehearsals, much fewer in film, and the impossibility of making changes after filming, unlike in theatre, which offers the possibility of improving in the following performance.

Carolina África, as an actress who has been on stage in both worlds, wanted to stress that there is no difference between film, theatre and television performers. ‘I am an actress in everything, I do less audiovisual work because I am less called upon. There is a prejudice against theatre actors and they are missing out on gems, they very talented people’.

Not sharing this criterion, the actress and director has been able to bring together a cast of experienced actresses with extensive experience in theatre, film and television to tell the choral story of Teresa (Carmen Machi), who lives with her four daughters (Bárbara Lennie, Victoria Luengo, Irene Escolar and Beatriz Grimaldos) and her nonagenarian mother-in-law (Lola Cordón). Together they plan a family reunion to commemorate the anniversary of their father’s death, which reveals the tensions between the four sisters, each with a very different personality: the nurturing, the rebellious, the wild and the adventurous. A choral comedy about the family, which Carolina África portrays with irony, noise, laughter and tears. The cast also includes Antonio Resines, Silvia Marsó and Nacho Fresneda.

‘We are like a family united by the same cord’, said Carmen Machi, who was captivated not only by the script, but also by the idea of participating in the film adaptation of a play. Victoria Luengo insisted, for her part, on the opportunity to work together, while adding that she was attracted to the story by her character’s relationship with her grandmother. For Bárbara Lennie, who has confessed her complicity with Carolina África since they studied together at RESAD, she has been delighted with the opportunity that Verano en diciembre has given her to change register and take on a comic role instead of the dramatic ones she usually plays. The gift, according to Beatriz Grimaldos, has been the possibility of playing the same character she has played in the theatrical sequel, Otoño en abril. ‘There are films that are arduous, they are survival; and others, like this one, that become a place where you can have a good time because there was tenderness and listening’, added Lennie.

The producers and distributors who took part in the presentation, Antonio Gómez Olea (Mare Films), Andrés Martín (Vértigo) and José Pastor (RTVE), wanted to emphasise the risk involved in adapting a play to film, but the great advantage of having a cast like the one assembled by Carolina África. They also stressed that Verano en diciembre brings together public service values, with women in front of and behind the camera to tell a story about women, while exemplifying Spanish cinema for a wide audience without losing quality. ‘This story is universal and contains the necessary talent for us to turn the tables and for other cinematographies to take on this version,’ added Andrés Martín.

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