movie world

Llorenc Llobet Gracia (1911 - 1976) has always bonded intimately with the world of cinema since his father gave him, in his young age, a Pathe-Baby camera. This childhood experience is re-enacted at the beginning of Vida en sombras, the only commercial film he made, in 1948, after having developed an intense activity in amateur cinema circles.

The plot, with autobiographical tinges, is about the life of a man born literally in a stall during one of the first cinema showings in Barcelona. His fascination for Chaplin’s short-films and the Pearl White series forge his childhood and, in his yough, he devotes his time to write for cinema magazines and film everything he sees. However, the 1936 coup d’etat, ruins everything. While the protagonist, performed by Fernando Fernan Gomez, is shooting war images on the street, his pregnant wife, Maria Dolores Pradera, dies at home, fatally wounded by a burst of ammunition.
Traumatized by guilt, the protagonist decides to give up any contact with the cinema...

Director: Lorenzo Llobet Gracia (as Llobet Gracia)
Cast: Fernando Fernan Gomez, Maria Dolores Pradera, Isabel de Pomes
Country: Spain

3 x DVD9 | PAL | 480 min | 18.5 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Espanol
Subtitles: English, Francais
Genre: Drama, Documentary, Short

The DVD includes two restored versions of "Life in Shadows" and 22 short films made by amateur filmmaker, and 2 documentaries and extras.

DVD ONE
-- Life in Shadows (1949, 79 min) Theatrical version
-- Bajo el signo de las sombras (Under the sign of the shadows, 1984, 33 min) documentary by Ferran Alberich, responsible for the restoration

DVD TWO
-- Short films made by Lorenzo Llobet Gracia in 1928-1954 in the variety of genres, from straight documentary to quasi-dadaist fantasy, revealing new facets of the imagination behind Vida en sombras.

DVD THREE
-- Life in Shadows (1949, 85 min) Pre-censorship version
-- Montaje anterior a la censura (Editing prior to censorship, 24 min)
-- Interviews with Delmiro de Caralt (25 min), Angel Zuniga (21 min) and Carlos Serrano de Osma (43 min)