The documentary by Dácil Manrique, 'The Last Archer', is screened at the Cuyás Theater
The Gran Canaria Espacio Digital center organizes the screening of the documentary by the filmmaker Dácil Manrique de Lara Millares, 'The Last Archer', in two free sessions that will take place on January 28, at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. , in the Josefina de la Torre room, of the Cuyás Theater.
The aforementioned documentary, presented as a tribute to his grandfather, the Canarian painter Alberto Manrique, who died shortly before finishing the work, is a moving and intimate portrait of the artist in which its director invites us to take a journey of exploration into the past. Filmed between 2011 and 2018 between Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Madrid and Fuerteventura, the aforementioned work had the collaboration of the Gran Canaria Espacio Digital center of the Council of Culture of the Cabildo.
Tickets (maximum two seats per person, nominative and with a pre-assigned seat) to attend the aforementioned screening will be available from January 20 at the Cuyás Theater box office, whose hours are from Monday to Friday, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. :30 hours. And on Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The documentary 'The Last Archer' is up for a dozen nominations for the Goya Awards 2021, including Best Film and Best New Director.
The filmmaker explained that this 74-minute work (the first non-fiction film by the Gran Canaria director) was made in an effort to return to her grandfather the memories lost after the stroke suffered in 1991, managing to tell who she was for her in a posthumous tribute full of sensitivity. This cinematographic, biographical and regenerative experiment, part of the conversations, Super 8 tapes and the diaries of his grandmother Yeya with which Dácil Manrique meets again. Memories as beautiful as they are painful in which you will discover a reality full of magic: that your grandfather's art has a power ... the power to heal. The documentary stars Alberto Manrique and his wife, the Canarian and violinist, Yeya Millares - the voice of many of the memories that are revealed in the film. Manrique died on March 28, 2018, he did not see the work finished, but, at least, now his memory is recorded for the future.
'The last archer' is produced by Ana Sánchez-Gijón for La Mirada, and by the director herself. The Government of the Canary Islands, the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts of the Ministry of Culture, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, and Televisión Canaria also participated in the filming.
'The Last Archer' was present at the 27th edition of Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the largest and most important documentary film festival in North America and one of the most important in the world, remaining among the 20 best rated films at the festival.
The title of the documentary is relevant because Manrique was the last of the artists and founding members of the group called LADAC (Los Arqueros del Arte Contemporáneo). For the filmmaker, this work also marked the return after her stay in Madrid to the childhood home of a girl who grew up with her grandparents. Her father did not recognize her until many years later and, when he did, he gave her the opportunity to flee from an event that marked her youth and from which she needs to heal. And there the essential axis of the film arises.
'The last archer' allows the viewer to witness the creation of the last painting that Manrique painted, a work about which the director questions him. "The entrance where you only keep your memories. Other darker memories are in a separate room ..." And what are those other darker ones? His granddaughter asks him. "I have been lucky! As the stroke gave me I have forgotten half of the memories", the painter responds. "My grandfather taught me that in the dark there is also light. I'm sorry that it took so long to understand that he gave me his silence," confesses Dácil Manrique de Lara.
