According To The variety Spain’s Film Factory Entertainment has picked up global rights to “Pray for Us,” the latest from Daniel Monzón, produced by Arcadia Motion Pictures, the Madrid-based outfit behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and Pablo Berger’s Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams.”
Headlined by Zoe Bonafonte (“The Goldsmith’s Secret,” “The 47”) and Manuela Calle (“Marbella”), the film also stars Adelfa Calvo (“On the Fringe,” “God’s Crooked Lines”), Malena Gutiérrez (“Bitching and Witching,” “All About My Mother”) and María Cerezuela (“Maixabel”).
Reuniting Monzón with longtime co-writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría and inspired by real events “Pray for Us” dramatizes one of the most silenced chapters of Franco’s Spain: the Patronato de Protección a la Mujer (Women’s Protection Board). Created in 1941 and active until 1985, the state-backed institution confined thousands of women, many single mothers, in convents and boarding schools under the guise of moral “reform.” Historians estimate some 40,000 women passed through them. “We’re thrilled to be part of Daniel Monzón’s upcoming film. We believe ‘Pray for Us’ has strong international potential and will leave a lasting impression on audiences worldwide.” said Film Factory Director Vicente Canales.
Set between 1974 and 1979, the story follows two young women from different social backgrounds who meet inside one such institution. Ana, a rebellious 19-year-old from Barcelona, is sent by her wealthy father to a Patronato facility overseen by the merciless Sister Socorro. Amid the harsh conditions, Ana forms a deep bond with Sole, a friendship tested by escape attempts, reprisals, and an ultimate sacrifice.
Billed as a powerful human drama, “Pray for Us” seeks to provoke reflection. “I am very interested in films that take the viewer on an intense emotional journey, that introduce them to an unknown universe and confront them with moral dilemmas they would never consider in their everyday life,” said Monzón.
A Spain-France co-production with Noodles Production, the film will be released theatrically in Spain by Elastica, a top indie producer-distributor (“Alcarràs”) ranging from arthouse to more upscale mainstream.
Variety described Monzón’s debut “The Heart of the Warrior” as “combining the commercial and the idiosyncratic to sometimes sizzling effect,” a remark that proved prophetic. His sophomore outing, “The Biggest Robbery Never Told,” and only English language turn “The Kovak Box,” with Alex de la Iglesia co-scribe Guerricaechevarría now on board as co-writer, paved the way to his 2009 breakout smash “Cell 211.” Wildly entertaining but subtly revealing political undercurrents, it grabbed eight Goyas.
Monzón followed with Luis Tosar starrer “El Niño,” a social-issue thriller boasting some of Spanish cinema’s most dynamic action, before returning with sea-cruise set caper “Yukatan,” and 2021’s “The Laws of the Border,” adapting Javier Cercas’ novel, selected for San Sebastián and scoring the second best IMDB rating of his career and five Goyas including adapted screenplay.
