EL 47 - 110 minutes (centrepiece event of the Spanish Film Festival)

Based on truth, EL 47 is the story of an unlikely “revolutionary” who changed the face of Barcelona.

His name is Manola Vital (Eduard Fernandez) and he was a bus driver who was exiled from his home.

He and his young daughter, Joana, were not alone. Many others from Extremadura and Andalusia faced a similar fate in the 1950s and ‘60s.

They congregated in a neighbourhood called Torre Baro, which is in the hills on the outskirts of Barcelona.

There was a law in place at the time that overnight if somebody could construct a ramshackle home with a roof on it, they would be allowed to stay there.

No roof and the place would be torn down by the police, when they came to check at the crack of dawn.

So, it was that a surfeit of shacks was created by Manola et al in 1958.

Twenty years later, quite a community had formed, but one with precious few amenities, because they were overlooked by City Hall.

Manola had married a nun, Carmen (Clara Segura) – yes, you read that correctly – who spoke Catalan, not his native tongue.

He had been employed as a driver on route 47 (hence EL 47 being the title of the film) for two decades.

But they, their daughter (played as a young adult by Zoe Bonafonte) and others in Torre Baro were not served by any public transport.

No bus would attempt to climb the steep, unpaved road to Torre Baro, so they had to walk kilometres to get into town and back.

Residents calls for improvements to their services fell on deaf ears.

Even though Manola tried everything to convince authorities that expanding the bus service to include Torre Baro was a “no brainer”, they did nothing.

That is until Manola took matters into his own hands, with a radical step that saw him charged and convicted.

EL 47 is a compelling community story and a five-time winner at this year’s Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars).

It is a tale of perseverance and heart, which has an air of authenticity about it.

It appears to use real footage of the era interspersed with the majority of filmed scenes.

Eduard Fernandez is a natural as the understated Manola, who has a strong moral compass.

He is a decent guy who respectfully goes about his business, until he really steps up to precipitate a quantum shift in thinking.

Clara Segura brings great humanity to her role as Carmen, a kind and caring teacher, regardless of whether she is wearing a habit or not.

There is a touch of the rebellious in Zoe Bonafonte as Manola’s daughter.

Co-written (with Alberto Marini) and directed by Marcel Barrena, EL 47 is a feel good, crowd pleaser with added weight because what is depicted actually happened.

While the film takes time to develop, a stirring ballad sung by Joana at the end of the movie really pulls at the heart strings.

It caps off a memorable and emotional cinematic experience.

EL 47 is the centrepiece event at the 2025 Spanish Film Festival, which runs between 11th June and 9th July (with dates differing by city).

To find out more and to book tickets, go to https://spanishfilmfestival.com