Angélica [a tragedy]
(Angélica [una tragedia])
Manuel Fernández-Valdés | Documentary
2016 | 83 minutes | Spain
Recipient of important awards in Spain and abroad, Angélica Liddell's dramaturgy is considered one of the most avant-garde in contemporary European theater. As Liddell starts working in her new play, director Manuel Fernández-Valdés decides to capture her rehearsal process on camera.
Synopsis
Recipient of important awards in Spain and abroad, Angélica Liddell's dramaturgy is considered one of the most avant-garde in contemporary European theater. As Liddell starts working in her new play, director Manuel Fernández-Valdés decides to capture her rehearsal process on camera.
The hallmarks of Liddell's autobiographical work are social criticism, heartrending expressionism, purity and the search for meaning through pain and subversion. These characteristics affect the essence of her working method and the people who work with her. Each one of them, including Fernández-Valdés, must decide how far they are willing to go.
Angélica [a tragedy] is an insightful look to the theater stage process, the devotion to art, and the troubled relationship between creation and life.
Reviews
"The Spanish actress/writer/director has been an emotional force through her dramatic works, which tear apart intellectual pretensions with brutal precision. Manuel Fernández-Valdés' documentary marks the first time that Liddell has allowed cameras into her rehearsal process...A strong optional purchase." — P. Hall, Video Librarian
"The most powerful, audacious, sincere, lucid and intelligent of the artists that appeared in recent times." — Le Figaro
"Violent, provocative, impudent and blasphemous, her work shakes the stones." — Le Monde
"You can blame her for everything you want, except that she is anodyne." — Libération
"Angelica Liddell has become her own character, it is impossible to separate her life from her work. She is the suicidal who never dare to commit suicide; she lives from and in her wound, amused and disgusted by it at the same time in the same way that she loves and hates herself." — Ana Vidal Egea, Professor City University of New York, Writer The Theater of Angélica Liddell (1988-2009)
"The documentary portrays how the intimate pain that Liddell's autobiographical theater gathers affects not only her, but also everybody working with her. Each of them has to decide how far are they willing to go." — Gacetín Madrid
Citation
Main credits
Fernández-Valdés, Manuel (film director)
Fernández-Valdés, Manuel (screenwriter)
Liddell, Angélica (on-screen participant)
Other credits
Cinematography, Manuel Fernández-Valdés; editor, Manuel Fernández-Valdés.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Activism
Biography
Body Image
Culture + Identity
Dance + Performing Arts
Iberian Studies
Women
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival
Doclisboa
Ourense International Film Festival
Festival/Tokyo
DIRECTOR: Manuel Fernández-Valdés
NATIONALITY: Spain
YEAR: 2016
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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