Dance as a weapon of protest. Dialogue with Nacho Álvarez about his first film Explota Explota Explota (2020)

Abstract

Explota Explota is the first film by Nacho Álvarez with Ingrid García-Jonsson, Verónica Echegui, Fernando Guallar. It was released in Spain when theaters reopened during the pandemic in the fall of 2020. The film tells the story of Maria (Ingrid Garcia-Jonsson) who leaves her future husband at the altar of a church in Rome to go to Madrid, a kind of initiatory journey in which she befriends Amparo (Veronica Echegui) before falling in love with Pablo (Fernando Guallar), a television employee, but not just any one, as he is the son of the official censor. It is a musical whose soundtrack, composed of songs by Raffaella Carrà, is a tribute to the admired artist of Nacho Álvarez. But make no mistake, the film is not a biography of Raffaella, although there are several allusions to her life, and she even appears in a cameo at the end. Raffaella's songs have shaped the script of the film, as well as the characters that evolve in a scenario at the end of Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975), in 1973, a time when censorship was still in force. In fact, the film deals with complex issues such as censorship, sexism and dance as an art of rebellion.