''Berta's Motives'' () is a 1984 Spanish black and white film written and directed by José Luis Guerín (in his feature film debut). It stars Silvia Gracia,

Arielle Dombasle Arielle Dombasle (born April 27, 1953)Dombasle's year of birth has been a subject of much debate, and various sources have given dates ranging from 1953 to 1958. is an American-born French singer, actress, director and model. Her breakthrough ro ...

, Iñaki Aierra, and Rafael Díaz.

Plot

Taking place in the fictional village of Sotoluego, the plot focus on the maturing of 13-year-old Berta. The monotonous life of the village is upended by the arrival of extravagant Demetrio and the settling of a

film crew A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of Filmmaking, producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the Ensemble cast, cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear ...

Cast

Production

The film boasted a budget of around 10 million ₧. It was shot in Melque de Cercos, province of Segovia.

Release

The film had a couple of press screenings on 9 March 1984 at Madrid's Cines Griffith. It was presented in the 'Cine Español' section of the 32nd

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...

in September 1984. It also made it to the programme of the 1984 and to the non-competitive slate of the

35th Berlin International Film Festival The 35th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1985. The retrospective was dedicated to ''Special effects''. The Golden Bear was jointly awarded to '' The Woman and the Strangler'' directed by Rainer Simon a ...

(February 1985). It had a commercial release in Barcelona on 13 February 1985. Distribution issues notwithstanding, the film earned "unanimous enthusiasm" from the critics.

Accolades

, - , , , 30th

Sant Jordi Awards The Sant Jordi Awards (; ) are film prizes awarded annually by the Catalan branch of the Spanish public radio network Radio Nacional de España (RNE), Ràdio 4. The awards were established in 1957. Awards are made in the following categories: ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Spanish Film , , , , {{center, {{Cite web, url=https://elpais.com/diario/1986/01/09/cultura/505609210_850215.html, website=

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

, date=9 January 1986, title='Los motivos de Berta', premio Sant Jordi de Cinematografía

References