The Confecciones Saavedra documentary, directed and produced by Pedro Ayose and José Martret, will premiere on November 19. The Municipal Theater of San Bartolomé will screen the short film at 8:00 p.m., which narrates the life of Juana Saavedra, a woman who was born in Mácher and moves to San Bartolomé, where she sets up a clothing store in the early 80s.
Ayose and Martret describe Saavedra, who is currently 72 years old and retired, as “an authentic force of nature.” After getting married, the protagonist of the work went to live in San Bartolomé and started several businesses, until she opened Confecciones Saavedra, “a small store that became the epicenter of the town.” Little by little she was employing and remodeling her business, in an era in which “it was not well seen that women undertook anything,” the directors point out. “She lived her years of splendor in the 80s and 90s, but now the business hardly works anymore. Even so, Juana is unable to definitively lower the shutter of her store: her life experience is connected to that store,” they explain.
The short film has been selected in different international festivals, among them the “10th Mumbai Indian Cine Fim Festival” and has won two awards: Silver Winner for Best Documentary Short at the Tokyo Film Awards and Best Documentary Short at the Lulea International Film Festival in Sweden.
Pedro Ayose, the producer
The producer of the documentary explains that “the first bell-bottom jeans” he had were bought by his mother “at Confecciones Saavedra, also called Casa Juana”
“The clothes that Juana sold dressed me since I was little and dressed my whole family. I always went to important events dressed in Confecciones Saavedra. In addition, there was the fascination I felt for what Juana was like and for everything she did: store owner, businesswoman, actress, founder of Las Revoltosas, component of the play back, petanque player…”, explains Ayose.
“For 5 or 6 years my relationship with Juana has been more personal. We send each other whatsapp and I visit her whenever I can. The day Juana told us that she was retiring and closing the store, something happened in us, and we decided to film and document her,” says the director.
Ayose was born in Lanzarote in 1986 and trained as an actor in the studio of Juan Carlos Corazza. Then, he participates in various courses. One of script, with Azucena Rodríguez, and “How to carry out a first opera”, with Andrea Jaurrieta and Iván Luis. Another of script writing for cinema and television, with Julio Rojas.
He also collaborated in a dramaturgy workshop, with Mohamed El Khatib, at Teatros El Canal, in the creation of a documentary at the Madrid Film Institute, with Javier Corcuera, “Creation of a documentary from scratch”, with Jose Prada and Rene Strgar, ¡Copy and paste! and in creative processes, with Rubén H. Bermúdez. Finally, with María Puy Alvarado, he participated in a course on “Development and presentation of short film dossiers”, with María del Puy Alvarado at the Madrid Film Institute.
His documentary project “Las Revoltosas. Toda una Revolución”, has been selected in Creadoc2022 by Canary Island Films and the DokLab Navarra Documentary Residence.
José Martret, director
For his part, Martret met Saavedra through Ayose. “From the first second I was fascinated by her personality, energy, ease and intensity. Little by little I got to know her story and her business. Confecciones Saavedra is a unique place with a fascinating history that is inextricably linked to the history of the woman who created it. It is also a kind of Titanic, which enjoyed great years of splendor and rejoicing, but which now lies submerged in the bottom of the seas of oblivion. Its interior is still full of treasures, memories, remains of an intense life. But for me, the great treasure is Juana Saavedra, who is still there, retired, but without finishing closing the doors, unable to say goodbye to that part of her life,” says Martret.
The director was also born in Palma de Mallorca in 1971. He trained as an actor with the Italian-American teacher Leona di Marco and with the Argentine Cristina Rota. He also participates in film script seminars with JorgeGerricaechebarría and Jorge Goldenberg.
As an actor he participates in television series, plays and short films. He shares several acting awards with Jorge Calvo for the short film Tabulé, by Richard García. In 2008 he writes and directs his first short film ¡¡¡Todas!!!, about transsexual prostitution, which premieres at Lesgaycinemad and wins two awards: Best Spanish Work and Public Award. The short film travels 150 festivals and collects a total of 15 awards, both national and international. In addition, his script “Saturna” has been selected in the 2nd Residence of the Spanish Film Academy, where he has had Belén Funes, Fernando Franco and Gorka Magallón as mentors.
