''Sempre Xonxa'' (
Galician for ''Always Xonxa'') is a Galician-language film from
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
, Spain directed and written by and released in 1989. It was the first Galician feature film shot in
35 mm 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
, along with ''
Urxa'', by and , and ''
Continental'' by , making it one of the first
fiction film
Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...
s in the Galician language. The film is about the emotional consequences of emigration and is set in rural Galicia.
''Sempre Xonxa'' was, during 20 years, the biggest theatrical success for a film in Galician, until 2019 when ''
Fire Will Come
''Fire Will Come'' ( gl, O que arde, links=no) is a 2019 internationally co-produced Galician language drama film directed by Oliver Laxe. Filmed in the Serra dos Ancares area of Galicia, many of the cast were local people and not professional ...
'' eventually attracted more spectators.
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
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
Forcarei is a municipality in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra.
Location
The municipality of Forcarei occupies the northern part of the province of Pontevedra. Bordered on the east by the municipality of Lalín, which separates the m ...
, and in the villages of Rubillón and Baíste in the municipality of
Avión
Avión is a municipality in the Spanish province of Ourense. It has a population of 1,910 (2016) and an area of 121 km².
The town is the summer retreat of Spanish-Mexican millionaire Olegario Vázquez Raña who has hosted Mexican billionai ...
, 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.
See also
*
Cinema of Galicia
Cinematography in Galicia is in the main in Galician language, although there is also a minority done in Spanish and Portuguese.
History
Until the Civil War
After the arrival to Galicia of the first film projectors, there were some pioneers t ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sempre Xonxa
1989 drama films
1989 films
1980s Spanish films
Spanish drama films
Galician-language films
Films shot in Galicia (Spain)
Films set in Galicia (Spain)