The idea of shooting a low-budget feature came to me in July 1995 when I didn't get the money for three shorts that I had asked for from the ministry. I thought: `Hmm. With the money for those three shorts I could have done a feature,'' says Roberto Romeo about how Esperanza y Sardinas ended up being shot. Financing for the project was certainly a little unconventional: 'We went to the shop owners and the small businesses in the town and made T-shirts that we then sold at pta1,000 each.'
Shot by friends with only two professional actors (Paulina Gálvez and Manuel de Blas), Esperanza y Sardinas - whose postproduction work took place in both Paris and Belgium - is as radical and as passionate a piece as one would expect from such steadfastness. In a short period of time (five days at the end of the year), the characters break the claustrophobic routine from which they had never managed to escape. A disturbing man ('La Sardina') returns and questions the authority of Pedro as a local leader. In a simultaneous attempt to salvage what is his, and go forward into the world, Pedro decides to set up his own drug business and comes into conflict with 'El Porreta', an old surviving dealer from the golden Tangiers of the 50s.
Shot in 35mm, with excellent black and white photography, the film has a gypsy-frontier quality to it. According to Romeo, it is 'like opening a pot to see what's inside.' And there´s no doubt about it: this stew has turned out just right.
Prod: DACSA productions-Paella Films
Dir: Roberto Romeo
Guión (Scr): Jean-Luc Cambier
Foto (Ph): Yves Cape
Mus: Juan Reina y Pedro Esparza
Mon (Ed): Anita Fernàndez
Ints (Cast): Manuel de Blas, Paulina Gàlvez, Luis Bevià, Juan Antonio Blasco
Duración (Running time): 92 min
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