The film, which questions myths and beliefs that many have repeated as truths about colonization, reached theaters cinema Regal of USA this Friday, October 4th.
With landscapes of Ecuador, Spain, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and the United States as a backdrop, the film shows the cultural heritage that unites Spain and Latin America with the purpose of highlighting the Spanishness.
DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS spoke with the film director moments after he presented his audiovisual work at the Coral Gables Art Cinema.
“I have tried to ensure that Hispanicity is represented. And the truth is that the filming was wonderful, because I discovered things that I didn’t know and that are wonderful, like the Andean baroque. I had traveled to Mexico, but to go through the towns, through the interior of Michoacán, through Tlaxcala, which was a state where they are the opposite of all of Mexico. There is no longer a black legend. In other words, they ultimately claim the Tlascalans as conquerors of the Aztecs, which is the truth,” López-Linares said.
The director says he wanted to show the untold side of the story.
“I was already a little tired, very tired and angry of hearing nonsense, lies and stupidity, like someone has to apologize for what someone did 500 years ago, things that make no sense and that only serve to separate us a little more” , commented the director about how the concern arose to address the subject matter of the film.
With the documentary, the filmmaker, winner of three Goya awards, set out to strengthen ties between Spain and Latin America, but also between the Latin American peoples.
“Between Spain and Latin America, of course, but also between all Hispanic Americans, because in Peru they don’t know much about Mexico. In Venezuela not much is known about Argentina either. In other words, nothing is known, however, we are all together, we speak the same language, we share the same roots. When we meet, we connect. So I wanted to remove all the burden that it has of politics, of falsified history, so that that union, that relationship can prosper and that we can go wherever we want,” he explained.
Threaded together by the common thread of colonial music and art, the film reviews history by exposing aspects that intertwine Spanish culture and that of the viceroyalties, with the contributions of more than 60 historians and experts from both sides of the Atlantic. Among the testimonies, that of Carlos Leañez stands out, who states that “in Latin America, we are victims of a false and very dangerous story.”
Also that of Angélica Montes-Cruz, who considers that “they have told us the story wrong and we have believed it.”
Carmen Iglesias, director of the Royal Academy of History, Marcelo Gullo, Juan Manuel de Prada and Enrique Krauze were also interviewed.
“It was an extraordinary process, because each trip, to each country, we did independently. Almost two weeks in each country, we went and returned to base, to Madrid. And there we returned to the next trip until we ran out of time and money. And that’s why every time they tell me why doesn’t Uruguay come out? Well, I’m very sorry, but the Caribbean is also another pending subject,” said López-Linares about the experience of filming the film.
Likewise, he announced that he is preparing another documentary, this time focused on Hispanic roots in the United States, which he hopes to release in 2026.
“We have been recording for 10 days, from northern Florida. The film is about Hispanicism in the US, because there were also many new Hispanics. And at present it is the second Hispanic country after Mexico. I think it is important to pay that attention and for both Hispanics and Americans to know that this country has deep roots long before the English arrived. There is something Dominican, there are Cubans in the film as well. In this film we will focus more on the Caribbean,” he anticipated.
Regarding whether he will try to film in Cuba, he commented: “Maybe yes. If they don’t take away my camera, like the last time I went.”