Summer Rain

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, United Kingdom, 2006, 118 min
Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition

Synopsis

Miguelito is 18. He has just left the hospital with a long scar and a copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Ever since reading the work, he has known that he wants to become a writer. But now it’s summer and Miguelito meets at the pool with Babirusa, who is into martial arts; Paco, whose father is rich; with little Moratalla; and with Luli, who dreams of becoming a dancer. When summer ends, the gang breaks up and so does the romance between Luli and Miguelito. The two young people grow up. "The film touches on a process we must all go through […]: the passage from adolescence to adulthood. My dream was actually much smaller than what my life has become. I simply wanted to be a stage actor, not a movie star. Fortunately, I haven’t lost the drive that led me to leave Málaga. I remember the exact moment when I realized that I had become someone else, that whatever happened, I would return to Málaga as a different person.” Summer Rain screened in the Panorama section at the 2007 Berlinale where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award.

About the director

Antonio Banderas (b. 1960, Málaga) wanted to act in theater but Pedro Almodóvar discovered him for the film world in 1982, casting him in Labyrinth of Passion (Laberinto de pasiones). The director also cast him in Matador (1986), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, 1988), and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Atame!, 1990), and he also appeared in Carlos Saura’s 1984 film The Stilts (Los zancos). After moving to the United States he made movies with Bille August (The House of the Spirits, 1993), Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, 1993), Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire, 1994), and Brian De Palma (Femme Fatale, 2002), among others. With Robert Rodriguez he has made the movies Desperado (1995), Spy Kids 1-3 (2001-03), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). In 1999 he debuted as a director with Crazy in Alabama, presented at Venice. Summer Rain represents another successful directing attempt.