Next Sunday, December 15, Spain will host its first cinema showings for nudist audiences. This is an initiative called Natural cinema which have been in charge of promoting the distributor Carácter Films and the production company Proyecta Films together with FEN (Spanish Federation of Naturism) and the naturist associations ADN (Association for the Development of Naturism in the Community of Madrid), CCN (Catalan Club of Naturisme) and ANVA (Valencian Naturist Association). Although it is the first time in Spain, there are already precedents in other countries. For example, France has welcomed visits to the Cinematheque for nudist groups.
These screenings will take place in the first two cinemas that have joined this initiative, Cinemes Girona in Barcelona and Cines Lys in Valencia, and are intended exclusively for members of the participating associations and supporters. The film projected in these sessions will be You are not methe debut feature by Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera that premiered in Spain this Friday, December 13.
“The initiative was born from the hand of Juan Ángel Manzano, one of the partners of the Valencian Naturist Association,” Marisa Crespo, director of You are not me. “But it was not a proposal, but a wish that he made,” explains Moisés Romera. “The association has participated in a sequence of the film and Manzano expressed his desire for a screening to be organized in which all ANVA members would have the opportunity to see it doing naturism,” they add.
The filmmakers got to work to make this naturist pass a reality and proposed it to their distributor. “At first it left us a little surprised,” says Silvino Puig of Carácter Films. “But we didn’t think it was a bad idea and we appreciated it. So we decided to move forward,” they conclude.
With the distributor’s yes, the next thing was to find rooms where these sessions could be held. That is when Puig, together with his partner José Luis Abril, contacted different cinemas to carry them out. “We were in Barcelona and we approached Cinemes Girona. There they responded to us with a surprised silence but with a smile on their faces. They quickly told us that they were also signing up,” recalls Silvino Puig.
“We do not intend to denounce or defend anything. Simply that the naturist group can feel the freedom of going to the movies and enjoying what they like,” they point out from Carácter Films. “But we do not intend to do anything with this, nor do we have any type of demand, protest or attempt for cinema to be like this in the future. We thought it was an interesting action to do, which has never been done in any cinema, and we jumped into the pool,” says Puig.
The activity was already carried out in other areas
Francisco Esparza, president of the Valencian Naturist Association, declares that he finds this initiative important for “the normalization of nudism as a philosophy of life.” “Doing nudism is not just going to a nudist beach. Nudism is a broader movement that can be practiced in more spaces and thus ensure that, instead of constituting a kind of ghetto, it is another part of society,” he tells elDiario.es.
However, although this is the first time it has been carried out in a film session, naturist activities have been practiced in Spain for some time, both in museums and theaters. “We always try to look for activities that have to do with leisure and, above all, with culture, so we have been attending plays or even castles for years,” says Esparza.
“It is also true that it agrees that, in several plays that we have been able to attend, the actors and actresses themselves were naked,” clarifies the president of ANVA. “For example, in Valencia, many years ago, a work was done called Eva has diedopen in some performances to the nudist public because the actors were also naked.”
Nudity is normal. You can see a person perfectly dressed and the situation is very erotic, and vice versa. It is necessary to demystify that.
Francisco Esparza
— President of the Valencian Naturist Association (ANVA)
Silvino Puig confesses that he has not thought about the possible criticism that the initiative may receive when organizing it, since they are not looking for any type of repercussion. Neither do the filmmakers Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera, who do not consider “that there are people who do not understand the activity or criticize it.”
“If someone criticizes it, it is because of prejudice or ignorance, since they are only private passes for people who belong to a group,” says Crespo. “The associations have raised this precisely to fight against these prejudices. “To try to break taboos and separate what nudity is from sex, which for them has no sexual connotation.”
This is what Francisco Esparza states, who would like “any erotic or sexual connotation to be separated from nudity”: “Nudity is something normal. You can see a person perfectly dressed and the situation is very erotic, and vice versa. It is necessary to demystify that.” Furthermore, Esparza indicates that, although their association does not necessarily seek to “make non-normative bodies visible,” they do not give “importance to aesthetic beauty,” since they consider that “any body in itself is beautiful.”
Measures agreed upon by the associations
The rules of coexistence of the countries have been set by the naturist associations in conversations with the distributor and the producer. That is why, although Natural cinema It is a nudist event, each attendee is free to opt for complete or partial nudity. Furthermore, access to the venue must be done with clothing and attendees may only undress inside the room, where they may store their belongings in a bag or backpack.
For hygiene reasons, it is mandatory to use towels on the seats that cover the entire seat and backrest throughout the screening. If someone has to leave the theater, Carácter Films and Proyecta Films indicate that it will be mandatory to dress completely before accessing the common areas of the cinema. It is also totally prohibited to record and take photographs, except for people accredited for this purpose.
Together with the Spanish Federation of Naturism (FEN), the distributor and the cinemas are working to ensure that “the associates feel comfortable in the theater.” This is why FEN is collaborating in the management of tickets, although supporters or people who have previously notified may attend the screening.
You are not me will inaugurate the initiative
The debut feature by Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera will be the film in charge of inaugurating the initiative. It is a thriller starring Roser Tapias, which premiered on December 6 in the US and is already in theaters in Spain. The film has no relation to nudism, except that ANVA has helped in the recording of a sequence.
However, Moisés Romera recognizes that, “since it is a thriller familiar, it is quite distressing, disturbing and uncomfortable”, which could be linked to the initiative in the sense that “the human body has always been taboo and annoying for part of the population.” “It is a film that seeks to make the viewer tense and uncomfortable,” says the director. “Beyond that, there is no direct link. The initiative is something anecdotal, curious and newsworthy, and also beautiful, but it has arisen by chance in the middle of the film process.”
In the words of the filmmakers, “You are not me It is a Christmas Eve story.” “It has some doses of terror, but also irony and dramatic parts that are autobiographical. It is a criticism of everything that conditions us as a family,” says Romera. “The protagonist, after three years working abroad, arrives home on Christmas Eve by surprise. But she finds herself with a cold and uncomfortable reception, realizing that her parents have replaced her: a woman her age wears her clothes, sleeps in her room, wears her cologne, and her parents treat her like a daughter.
“The film has a lot of subtext about social differences,” explains the director. “It talks about xenophobia, immigration and human rights, about the extent to which we are able to defend our principles or in exchange for what. But, above all, it talks about how our ideas can coexist with those of our family, which in this case is very wealthy and conservative.”
Even though You are not me It is the first film to be screened under the initiative Natural cinemait is not ruled out that they organize more premieres. “If there is indeed demand, we will have to get used to it just as we do morning shows of any kind,” says Silvino Puig. “But let’s not anticipate events, this is a gesture towards a group that has supported the film and was behind it. From there, we will see how everything crystallizes.”
For his part, Francisco Esparza hopes “that the activity has a successful attendance” and that, “even if the room is not full, a sufficient number of people attend.” “We would like these passes to be repeated in the future. I don’t say regularly, but with a certain periodicity,” declares the president of the Valencian Naturist Association. For now, Puig anticipates that more cinemas will join the initiative. Whether it will become a recurring thing remains to be seen, but they are about to set an important precedent.
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