El camino

 A portrait of rural Spain and the young Daniel, who experiences his final days of childhood innocence before being sent to secondary school in the town in line with his father’s wishes. Daniel spends his time with his two best friends, with pranks, with observing the world of adults, with his first tender, still very timid feelings for a girl. Catholicism and its rigid moral ideas dominate everything and allow women above all little room for development outside of gossip and malice. EL CAMINO was Ana Mariscal’s most personal film, which looks at people full of tenderness, but dissects the restrictive social structures and the hypocrisy of the church with a clear gaze. The film was ignored by critics and received its premiere in the village it which it was filmed. Today, it is regarded as one of the forgotten masterpieces of the Spanish cinema of its era and was digitally restored and re-released in 2021.