The Blind Sunflowers (film)

The Blind Sunflowers (Spanish: Los girasoles ciegos) is a 2008 Spanish film directed by José Luis Cuerda, who wrote the screenplay alongside Rafael Azcona, based on the 2004 novel The Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Méndez. The film stars Maribel Verdú, Javier Cámara and Raúl Arévalo.

The Blind Sunflowers
Spanish	Los girasoles ciegos
Directed by	José Luis Cuerda
Written by	José Luis Cuerda Rafael Azcona
Based on	The Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Méndez
Produced by	Fernando Bovaira José Luis Cuerda Emiliano Otegui
Starring	Maribel Verdú Javier Cámara Raúl Arévalo Irene Escolar Martiño Rivas José Ángel Egido Roger Princep
Cinematography	Hans Burmann
Edited by	Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Music by	Lucio Godoy
Distributed by	Sogecine
Release date	August 29, 2008 (2008-08-29)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

This film was Spain's 81st Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category, but it was not selected.

Plot

The plot follows the life of a family, former sympathizers of the Spanish Republic, during the early 1940s. Their lives are disrupted when a young priest falls in love with the mother. The film is set in Ourense, 1940 where a disorientated deacon, named Salvador returns to the seminary of Ourense where the Rector delays Salvador's access to priesthood for a year. Salvador begins teaching in a school where he meets with Lorenzo, the son of Elena, who Salvador thinks is widowed. This opportunity multiplies with the deacon becoming obsessed with her, abusing her mentally and physically. We realise that Salvador is threatening Elena's family because of his obsession.

Cast

• Maribel Verdú as Elena
• Javier Cámara as Ricardo
• Raúl Arévalo as Salvador
• Roger Príncep [es] as Lorenzo
• José Ángel Egido as Rector
• Martín Rivas as Lalo
• Irene Escolar as Elenita
• Juan Antonio Quintana
• Fernando Ransanz
• David Janer as the falangist
• Ricardo de Barreiro [es] as Fernández
• Miguel de Lira as the brother
• Fanny de Castro as aunt Lola
• Carmen Losa as the nephew
• Mario Roldán
• Santi Prego [es]
• Xosé Manuel Olveira 'Pico'
• Íñigo Navares as Paquito
• Patrick Criado
• Sergio Murillo
• Daniel Heras
• Francisco Heras
• Laura Ponte as the woman who cleans
• Emiliano Otegui
• Camilo Rodríguez
• Karmele Aranburu [es] as the actress
• Luis Callejo as the military prosecutor
• Silvia Giner as the sister of Capitán Alegría
• Alexia Pardo

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2009	23rd Goya Awards	Best Film		Nominated	[1]
		Best Director	José Luis Cuerda	Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Rafael Azcona & José Luis Cuerda	Won
		Best Original Score	Lucio Godoy	Nominated
		Best Actor	Raúl Arévalo	Nominated
		Best Actress	Maribel Verdú	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	José Ángel Egido	Nominated
		Best New Actor	Martiño Rivas	Nominated
		Best Production Supervision	Emiliano Otegui	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Hans Burmann	Nominated
		Best Editing	Nacho Ruiz Capillas	Nominated
		Best Art Direction	Balter Gallart	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Sonia Grande	Nominated
		Best Makeup and Hairstyles	Fermín Galán & Sylvie Imbert	Nominated
		Best Sound	Alfonso Raposo, María Sternberg & Ricardo Steinberg	Nominated
	18th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Leading Role	Maribel Verdú	Nominated	[2][3]
		Best Film Actor in a Leading Role	Raúl Arévalo	Nominated
		Best Film Actor in a Minor Role	José Ángel Egido	Won

See also

• List of Spanish films of 2008
• List of Spanish submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
• List of submissions to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• The Endless Trench, another Spanish film about a man hiding in his home after the war.