Ramon Fontsere Movies

A young woman returns to the arms of her kin but encounters severe dysfunction and fracture, in this moody ensemble drama from Spain. Nausicaa Bonin stars as co-ed Lea, whose paternal grandfather dies, prompting her to return from Bordeaux, France to her childhood home in Catalan, Spain for the funeral, wake and burial. Lea's parents, Joelle (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) and Josep Maria (Eduard Fernandez) are separated, but put on airs for the sake of the familial appearances. Meanwhile, although Lea's two brothers, Pere (Ramon Fontsere) and Toni) (Francesc Orella) turn up for the funeral, her sister Virginia (Amalia Sancho) fails to show; as it turns out, she's just penned a not so subtle autobiographical novel that unearths many of the family's skeletons, to Pere's utter chagrin. Meanwhile, as the men struggle in vain to come to terms with their emotions, Joelle and Virginia contend with their exclusions from the family. This outing marked director and co-writer Mar Coll's premier feature. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A woman uncovers some unsettling truths about her country and its history in this drama from Spain. Lola (Ariadna Gil) is a writer who feels creatively stifled and hasn't been able to work out a new idea in months. Looking for something to clear her creative block, She takes an assignment to write a piece about Rafael Sanchez Mazas (Ramon Fontsere), a writer who sided with the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. While legend has it Mazas was killed by Republican troops, the truth is he was given protection and shelter by Friends of the Forest, a group of men who lived in the woods. As Lola tries to search out Joaquim Figueras, one of the last surviving Friends of the Forest, she discovers a soldier who captured Mazas and was prepared to shoot him, but opted to let him go at the last moment. As Lola's writer's block dissolves, she digs deeper in search of the truth about this elusive man and his mysterious actions during the war. Soldados de Salamina was based on a true story and the real-life Joaquim Figueras appears in the film, along with several other people who took part in the shelter and capture of Mazas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide