Sempre Xonxa

Sempre Xonxa (Galician for Always Xonxa) is a Galician-language film from Galicia, Spain directed and written by Chano Piñeiro and released in 1989.[2] It was the first Galician feature film shot in 35 mm, along with with Urxa, by Carlos Piñeiro and Alfredo García Pinal, and Continental by Xavier Villaverde, making it one of the first fiction films in the Galician language. The film is about the emotional consequences of emigration and is set in rural Galicia.

Sempre Xonxa
Directed byChano Piñeiro
Written byChano Piñeiro
Produced byManuel Martínez Mallo
Starring
CinematographyMiguel Ángel Trujillo
Edited byCristina Otero
Music byPablo Barreiro
Carlos Ferrant
Marcial Prado
Production
companies
Release date
  • 25 November 1989 (1989-11-25)
Running time
114 minutes[1]
CountrySpain
LanguageGalician
Box office€138,638.32[1]

Sempre Xonxa was, during 20 years, the biggest theatrical success for a film in Galician, until 2019 when Fire Will Come eventually attracted more spectators.[3]

Plot

Two boys, Pancho and Birutas, live in the same village and are platonically in love with the local girl Xonxa. But one of the boys, Birutas, has to emigrate with his family, leaving Xonxa and Pancho in the village. When Birutas returns from the United States many years later, having become a rich man, Xonxa is already married to Pancho.

Cast
  • Uxía Blanco as Xonxa
  • Miguel Ínsua as Birutas
  • Xavier R. Lourido as Pancho
  • Roberto Casteleiro as Caladiño
  • Roberto Vidal Bolaño as D. Xosé Luís
  • Rodrigo Roel as Don Camillo, the priest
  • Rosa Álvarez as Rosa, Pancho's mother
  • Loles León as Minga
  • Aurora Redondo as Mamarosa
  • Luchi Ramírez as the daughter of Xonxa as a child
  • Xaime Nogueira as the son of Xonxa as a child
  • María Viñas as Xonxa (adolescent)
  • Roberto Fernández as Pancho (adolescent)
  • Manuel Alonso as Birutas (adolescent)
  • Noela A. Mosquera as Xonxa (baby)
  • Giselle Romero as Xonxa (child)
  • Xavier Rocha as Pancho (child)
  • Miguel A. Gómez Sanz as Birutas (child)
  • María Pujalte
  • Xosé Manuel Olveira "Pico"
  • Manuel Ferrol as Himself

Production

The screenplay for Semper Xonxa met its first draft at the end of 1985, even before Esperanza was shot. Chano Piñeiro found inspiration in the stories of emigration he had heard told in his native Forcarei, and in the villages of Rubillón and Baíste in the municipality of Avión, where he filmed Mamasunción. The film had up to nine versions before the final script in 1988. Between version by version, Chano Piñeiro started looking for places to shoot the film, and found Santa Olaia de Valdeorras, whose village would be the village of Trasdomonte in fiction.[4]

See also

References
  1. Catálogo ICAA (ed.). "Ficha da ICAA de Sempre Xonxa" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  2. Arenas, José (25 December 1989). ""Cinegalicia", tres filmes para una puesta de largo" (in Spanish). ABC. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  3. "'O que arde' convértese no filme en galego máis visto en salas, superando a 'Sempre Xonxa'". Praza Pública (in Galician). 18 November 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  4. Yáñez, María (10 July 2018). "'Santoalla', o documental que conta en clave de 'thriller' o homicidio de Martin Venfondern" (in Galician). Praza Pública. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
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