Archive of films Railroad All-Stars / Estrellas de la línea

Spain
2006, 90 min

Section: Documentary Films - Competition
Year: 2006

Valeria, Vilma and Mercy are prostitutes living in the vicinity of a railway track in Guatemala City. One day they establish a football team in an attempt to bring attention to the injustices they have to face on a daily basis. Using gentle humour, the film offers an original look at one of the most serious problems in this small Central American country.

Synopsis

Valeria, Vilma and Mercy are part of a group of prostitutes living in the Guatemalan metropolis. Two dollars is the price of their services, provided in the immediate vicinity of what is known as La Línea, the railway line cutting through Guatemala City on its way to the Pacific Ocean. These women and mothers dream of a life without the violence they have to face on a daily basis from their clients and the police. In an attempt to come closer to this dream, they establish a football team. The enthusiasm of these unusual female footballers, however, is bound one day to come up against the prejudice of “respectable” citizens. This Spanish documentary film, combining humorous moments with cheerless images of tough reality, finds an original way to illustrate one of the most serious problems of this small Central American country. Here, football provides the ideal metaphor for capturing the collective spirit, the shared determination and endeavour to achieve a specific end result.

About the director

Chema Rodríguez (b. 1967, Seville, Spain) began travelling at the age of 17 and, since that time, he has visited over 100 countries. He began to make a name for himself with his newspaper and radio reports in which he spoke about his experiences from his life on the road. He has written several books and in 1996 started the magazine Cartographica, of which he was also Editor-in-Chief. He has made several programmes about Latin America for Spanish television. He made the documentary films Sahel, la frontera herida (1999), La llamada de Africa (2003) and Latidos (2005). Among others, Rodríguez also wrote the screenplay for the feature film The Great Match (La gran final, 2005), which is being screened in the section Another View.

Contacts

Telespan 2000
Príncipe de Vergara, 93 1° B, 28006, Madrid
Spain
Tel: +91 562 4532
Fax: +91 562 7330
E-mail: [email protected]

Media Luna New Films UG
Aachener Strasse 24, 506 74, Cologne
Germany
Tel: +49 221 510 918 91
Fax: +49 221 510 918 99
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.medialuna.biz

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Documentary Films - Competition

Director:	Chema Rodríguez
Screenplay:	Chema Rodríguez
Dir. of Photography:	René Soza
Music:	Michel Peraza, Vagos y Maleantes, Guerilla Seca, Paulo Alvarado
Editor:	Pablo Blanco Guzmán
Producer:	Thomás Cimadevilla, Chema Rodríguez
Production:	Telespan 2000
Contact:	Telespan 2000, Media Luna New Films UG

Guests

Chema Rodríguez

Film Director

Tomás Cimadevilla

Producer

Ida Martins

Nadine Rudisch

Sales Agent