A good documentary about Antonia 'La Singla', a 17-year-old flamenco dancer, today she is unknown and missing but in her time she was world famous. Antonia La Singla was born deaf and at the location of poor slums of Somorrostro, Barcelona. Despite this, she became the best dancer in the world when she was just a child. ? How is it possible that no one remembers her name? . ? What happened to La Singla? , these questions are what the actress Helena Kaittani addresses and will resolve in this interesting documentary that will keep us in a certain suspense and intrigue from the beginning to the end.
There is a slight intrigue because throughout we want to know about the true fate of La Singla, whether he is still alive or has died, the research work is exciting thanks to the numerous interviews and clues that are formed throughout. And the documentary follows the style of the Oscar-winning 'Searching for Sugarman', told as an investigative thriller, which is why it is interesting enough, but what is excelelnt are the images, the grip of La Singla's gaze, the nerve and rush of his dance.
La Singla made an impact on the international music scene in 1965, meanwhile, in Spain she was practically unknown. This documentary, winner of the Feroz Arrebato non-Fiction award in 2024, investigates that she was one of the most promising artists in our country and who was considered "the best flamenco dancer in the world" in Germany where she was really idolized . She had an internationally successful career: at the age of 13 she made her debut in Los Tarantos (1963) , the famous film directed by Francisco Rovira Beleta played by Carmen Amaya, Sara Lezana, Antonio Gades that was a transposition of Shakespeare's classic "Romeo and Juliet" in a sort of time and space, in fact was set in Somorrostro where La Singla lived, danced and was discovered her artistic abilities. This film was nominated for an Oscar and gave La Singla international fame with worldwide knowledge of her art. Describes the unlucky love between a couple of young gypsies, pertaining to two different families, deep-rooted opposing and established in the now missing district of Somorrostro, in Barcelona.
Among her followers were Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp or Joan Miró and scenario artists as Imperio Argentina, Gilbert Bécaud, Yul Brynner and her fame crossed our borders: among others she performed at the Olympia in Paris, or at the Berlin Philharmonic, accompanied by Paco de Lucia and Camarón de la Isla. But at the peak of her career, La Singla disappeared from the stage without a trace. In this documentary, a journalist well played by Helena Kaittani undertakes an investigation to finally resolve what happened to her and why she disappeared from the scenes.
The documentary was well directed by Paloma Zapata and has won many awards and nominations at festivals such as: Krakow Film Festival 2023 Ganador Special Mention International DocFilmMusic Competition Paloma Zapata, 2023 Nominated Golden Heynal, Moscow International Film Festival 2023 Ganador Russian Film Clubs Federation Award. DocsBarcelona, 2023 winner Audience Award, Best Film Paloma Zapata, winner Jury Special Mention. ASECAN 2023 Nominated ASECAN Award. Feroz Awards, 2024 winner Feroz Arrebato Award Nonfiction Paloma Zapata. Festival de Málaga 2023 Nominated Biznaga de plata. Premios Carmen 2024 Nominado Carmen Award Best Female Lead Performance Helena Kaittani 2024 Nominado Carmen Award, Best Documentary. Canadian International Documentary Festival
2023 Nominated Audience Award Best Documentary. Raindance Film Festival 2023 Nominated Best Documentary Film Best Documentary Paloma Zapata.
