Genre: Documentary
Length: 55′ and 82′
Director/producer: Lucija Stojevic
Producer: Deirdre Towers
Delegate producer: Noon Films SL
Co-producers: Greta Olafsdottir and Susan Muska for Bless Bless Productions (Iceland/USA)
In Collaboration with: RTVE, TV3, ICEC, IFC
Fiscal Sponsor: New York Women in Film & Television
Completion: 2016
World sales: Cat & Docs
Film website: www.lachanafilm.com
“I was born to dance. I would lay awake all night long, repeating the rhythms in my head until they became a part of me.” -La Chana
Antonia Santiago Amador, known as La Chana, is 67 years old. She is helped onto an empty stage and settles into her chair with difficulty. Then her feet begin to move. With closed eyes, she combines intricate rhythms at an ever-faster pace. Her body and soul finally succumb to the beat. She comes alive.
In the 1960s and 1970s La Chana was one of the biggest stars in the flamenco world. The self-taught Gypsy dancer rose to the scene at the height of the Golden Era of flamenco, surprising audiences worldwide with a style that was innovative: rhythmic combinations that were nontraditional and a speed, an expression and a power while dancing that were unprecedented. Her shows were advertised on larger-than-life sized billboards across Madrid. Peter Sellers, with whom she features in the film The Bobo (1967) invited her to Hollywood. But she didn’t go. Instead, at the zenith of her career, she suddenly disappeared from the scene.
As we follow the backstage drama leading to La Chana’s final seated performance in 2013, she unravels her turbulent life story and reveals the secret that cut short her promising career: for 18 years she was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her first husband.
La Chana isn’t about regret for a life that could have been but about La Chana’s strength to keep overcoming difficult life circumstances that are. It’s a story about the process and power of creation, about love, friendship and re-invention. La Chana takes us deep into the essence of her passion and reveals a poetic and inspiring story that crystallizes the inevitable clashes between her life’s extremes and contradictions; between the artist on stage and the woman behind the scenes.
Winner IDFA VPRO Audience Award 2016
Nomination Finalist Best European Documentary EFA Awards 2017
Winner Best Documentary Gaudí Awards 2018
Winner Best Documentary FEROZ Awards 2018
Winner Grand Prize ART FIFA Montreal 2019
Winner Audience Award Budapest International Documentary Festival 2018
Winner Audience Award DOKUArt Bjelovar 2018
Winner Best Documentary Cinehorizontes Marseilles 2018
Winner Best Documentary Festival du Cinéma Espagnol du Nantes 2018
Winner SADE Award Dock of the Bay Festival 2018
Winner Audience Award Dock of the Bay Festival 2018
Winner Le Voci dell’Inchiesta Audience Award 2017
Winner Chopin’s Nose Award for Best Documentary on Music & Arts DOCSAG 2017
Special Mention San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2018
Special Mention Cerdanya International Film Festival 2017
Nomination IDFA AWFJ Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary 2016
IDFA 2016
Flamenco Biennale The Netherlands 2017
DocPoint Helsinki 2017
DocPoint Tallinn 2017
Tempo Documentary Film Festival 2017
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2017
Assen International Film Festival Women & Film 2017
Vera Film Festival 2017
Málaga Film Festival 2017
Hot Docs 2017
Dok.Fest Munich 2017
Ambulante 2017
Europe on Screen 2017
Le Voci dell’Inchiesta 2017
Beldocs 2017
DocAviv 2017
Cinédoc Tbilisi 2017
TRT Documentary Days 2017
Films Against Gravity 2017
Amsterdam Spanish Film Festival 2017
Docs Barcelona 2017
Crossing Europe 2017
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017
AFI Docs 2017
In-Edit Brasil 2017
Maine International Film Festival 2017
New Zealand International Film Festival 2017
Best of Hot Docs Vancouver 2017
Ciclo de Flamenco y Cine Sevilla 2017
Woodstock Film Festival 2017
St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival 2017
Curacao Rotterdam International Film Festival 2017
Fünf Seen Film Festival 2017
Cerdanya Film Festival 2017
See the Sound 2017
Docudok Film Festival 2017
Sole Luna Doc Film Festival 2017
CNEX Taiwan 2017
Moldox 2017
Boston Latino International Film Festival 2017
Docs Barcelona Valparaiso 2017
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2017
Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2017
Danza_MOS Madrid 2017
…among others!
Director/Producer: Lucija Stojevic
Producer: Deirdre Towers
Co-producers (USA): Susan Muska & Greta Olafsdottir (Bless Bless Productions)
Production Coordinator: Sandra Olsina
Documentalist & Assistant Director: Lucia Sances
Associate producer, Expert Advice & Coordination: Beatriz del Pozo
Director of Photography: Samuel Navarrete
Camera: Carlos Villaoslada, Ferran Gassiot, Lucija Stojevic and Xavi Sibecas
Editing: Domi Parra, Irene Coll
Sound Design: Alejandro Castillo
Motion Graphics and Graphic Design: Andrés Bartos
Original Music composed by: Ernesto Briceño
Fiscal Sponsor: New York Women in Film & Television
A big thank you to the following people who made a donation to the documentary:
Avi Astor, Daniel Buckley, Marta López Fernández, Anna Pivovarchuk, Vera Kühn, Maribinty Solé Auguets, Miquel Nacher Palones, Jasmina Car, Marc Hermann, Marie Caroline Mayer, Daniela de Marchi, Luca Volpi, Monica Ceida, Angels Rosinach, Alexander Spalek, Patricia del Pozo, Jennifer Baljko, Galia Saravalli, Audrey & Sylvie Sicot, Lorena Aguilar, Andrea Mendoza & Maria Teresa Centeno, Sergi Barreno & Nuria Baiges, Laura Vinyet, Elisabet Alonso & Laia Salvador, Camille Steyer, Alberto, Mateo & Ana Fiocchi, Belen Bravo, Judith Requena, Tere Porras & Xavier Casasampere, Alex Nieto, Laura Llopart, Anna Xu, Yaiza Alemany, Nuria Ontiveros, Laura Gascó, Nuria Altamirano, Juliette Murekeyisone, Galia Ring, Marta Solano Martín, Yasmin Jilaihawi, Manos como Palomas (Switzerland), Carolina Santos, Arantxa Salarich, Irene Lameiro Mulet, Giuseppe Galante, Anna Palomo, Maria Àngels Rosinach, Carla Pons, Pere Mundet, Luis Garcia-Albert, Susana del Pozo, Josep Verge, Teresa Pérez Cuesta, Jeannette Castro, Leticia Perez Vereas, Alejandro Castillo, Alex de Haro, Sira López, Trini Linares, Bettina Schorr, Alicia Edith Hecht, Marga Carbonell, Irene Mundet, Marta Saleta, Clara de la Flor and Susana Medettete & Flamenco School ‘El Duende’ in Sydney, Australia, Jordi Villarubia, Beatriz del Pozo, Juanjo del Pozo, Maria Nieves, Pere-Mateu Xiberta Gómez, Joy Ngo, Silvia Gallardo, Nick Hall and Guri Scotford
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The film brings us under the skin and into the mind of La Chana, a talented Gypsy flamenco dancer as she returns to the stage to give a final seated performance after a 30-year break. Along the way, La Chana reveals the secret behind her disappearance when she was at the peak of her career.