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Film: “Return to Hansala”
February 24, 20237:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
General tickets at the box office: 5 euros.
4 euros: Tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe
Language Center students and Youth Card holders, by showing the proper
documentation. You may only receive one discount. Sales in advance at
www.casaarabe.es up to the day of the screening at 12:00 p.m. Those
tickets not sold online will be made available for purchase on the day
of the screening at Casa Árabe’s headquarters, as of one hour before
each screening (payment in cash or by debit/credit card). Assigned seats
with tickets.
In Spanish.
On Friday, February 24, Casa Árabe will be screening this film by director Chus Gutiérrez in Madrid. The screening will be followed by a debate with the participation of both Gutiérrez and Farah Ahmed, the actress in the main role. Buy your tickets online now.
Retorno a Hansala, by Chus Gutiérrez (Spain, 2008, 94 minutes. Drama).
In the early 2000s, the bodies of eleven young Moroccan immigrants attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar as boat people appeared on the beaches of Rota. From their clothes, it was discovered that the eleven boys all came from the same village, Hansala. The film attempts to recreate that event as seen through the eyes of two characters: Martin, an undertaker who intends to do business off of what happened, and Leila, a sister to one of the deceased. Both embark on the adventure of trying to repatriate the boy’s body in a van, where they live an intense moral experience that leads them to rethink everything the believe in. The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Seminci Film Festival (Valladolid, 2008) and received three nominations for the Goya Awards that year.
The screening will be held on Friday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. at the Casa Árabe Auditorium in Madrid (at Calle Alcalá, 62). Afterwards, a talk with be held with the movie’s director, Chus Gutiérrez, and the starring actress, Farah Hamed.
Chus Gutierrez
A screenwriter, actress and film director educated at the City University of New York, after several experiences with short films, she directed her first feature film (Sublet) in 1991. The most notable of her films include Insomnio (Insomnia, 1998), Retorno a Hansala (Return to Hansala, 2008), Sacromonte, los sabios de la tribu (Sacromonte: The wisemen of the tribe, 2014), Rol & Rol (2020) and the more recent films Sin ti no puedo (I Can’t Do It Without You) and De Caperucita a loba (From Red Riding Hood to Wolf, 2022).
For her work, she has been awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival, the Golden Pyramid and the FIPRESCI award at the Cairo International Film Festival, the Best Director and Best Screenplay Awards at the Guadalajara Film Festival (Mexico) and three nominations at the 2009 Goya Awards (Best Screenplay, Best New Actress -for Farah Hamed-, and Best Original Song).
Farah Hamed
In the early 2000s, the bodies of eleven young Moroccan immigrants attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar as boat people appeared on the beaches of Rota. From their clothes, it was discovered that the eleven boys all came from the same village, Hansala. The film attempts to recreate that event as seen through the eyes of two characters: Martin, an undertaker who intends to do business off of what happened, and Leila, a sister to one of the deceased. Both embark on the adventure of trying to repatriate the boy’s body in a van, where they live an intense moral experience that leads them to rethink everything the believe in. The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Seminci Film Festival (Valladolid, 2008) and received three nominations for the Goya Awards that year.
The screening will be held on Friday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. at the Casa Árabe Auditorium in Madrid (at Calle Alcalá, 62). Afterwards, a talk with be held with the movie’s director, Chus Gutiérrez, and the starring actress, Farah Hamed.
Chus Gutierrez
A screenwriter, actress and film director educated at the City University of New York, after several experiences with short films, she directed her first feature film (Sublet) in 1991. The most notable of her films include Insomnio (Insomnia, 1998), Retorno a Hansala (Return to Hansala, 2008), Sacromonte, los sabios de la tribu (Sacromonte: The wisemen of the tribe, 2014), Rol & Rol (2020) and the more recent films Sin ti no puedo (I Can’t Do It Without You) and De Caperucita a loba (From Red Riding Hood to Wolf, 2022).
For her work, she has been awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival, the Golden Pyramid and the FIPRESCI award at the Cairo International Film Festival, the Best Director and Best Screenplay Awards at the Guadalajara Film Festival (Mexico) and three nominations at the 2009 Goya Awards (Best Screenplay, Best New Actress -for Farah Hamed-, and Best Original Song).
Farah Hamed
Actress and director. Trained at the Nancy Tuñón actors’ studio in Barcelona. Nominated for the Goya for Best New Actress in 2009, for the film Retorno a Hansala (Return to Hansala), directed by Chus Gutiérrez. She has acted in movies such as Los últimos Días (The Last Days) and La ignorancia de la sangre (Ignorance of Blood) and, most recently, Los constructores de la Alhambra (The Builders of the Alhambra). She has also taken part in television series like Aída, Amar en tiempos revueltos (To Love in Troubled Times), Física o Química (Physics or Chemistry) and Hospital Central, as well as others.
Preview of Return to Hansala
