After seven years of work, Pontas Films has theatrically released its first feature film, Rastres de sandal (Traces of Sandalwood) in Spain. On Friday November 28th the film was screened in 64 movie theaters in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Bilbao, Valladolid, A Coruña, Málaga, Valencia, Girona, Burgos, Pamplona, Lleida, Tarragona…
Directed by Maria Ripoll, written by Anna Soler-Pont (adapting the novel by Asha Miró and herself), with Aina Clotet, Nandita Das, Vaibhavi Hankare, Naby Dakhli, Godeliv van den Brandt and Rosa Novell in the cast, the film is spoken in Catalan, English and Hindi. It was shot between Mumbai and Barcelona and the main technical teams have been directed by women (something not too usual in the film industry) such as Raquel Fernández Núñez (director of photography), Eva Valiño(sound) and Irene Blecua (edition).
The film got the Audience Award at the Montreal World Film Festival 2014 in August, and the opened the Indian Film Festival The Hague and was in the official selection of the Valladolid Film Festival, the New Generation Indian Film Festival in Frankfurt and was the closing film of the Most Festival in Vilafranca del Penedès.
Let´s hope the film will get international distribution soon and it will be seen worldwide!
Here' s the trailer: http://vimeo.com/110565396
The synopsis: Despite her fame and fortune, Mina, a successful Indian actress in Mumbai, can´t forget her little sister Sita, from whom she was forced to separate after their mother´s death in a village. Thirty years later she will finally find out that Sita is alive and well in Barcelona. However, Sita's adoptive parents have erased all traces of her past. She is now called Paula, works as a researcher in Biology and has no recollection of her Indian background, let alone of Mina. Faced with the shocking truths of her past, Paula begins a long journey of self-discovery, aided along the way by her budding romance with the handsome Indian immigrant Prakash. A story of hope and love across Mumbai and Barcelona; from India to the Mediterranean and all the way back.
More information: anna@pontas.cat