The Belly of the Sea directed by Agustí Villaronga will be shown at San Sebastian Film Festival (Made in Spain).
After the wreck of a ship, 147 men try to survive, confined in a raft adrift in the middle of the sea. This shipwreck was immortalized by Théodore Géricault in the famous canvas The Raft of the Medusa, preserved in the Louvre Museum. The italian writer Alessandro Baricco narrates these events in the novel Oceano Mare, into the chapter titled El Vientre del Mar.
A conflict that recalls the wound of a man. June of 1816. The French frigate Alliance Navy runs aground in front of the Senegal coast. As there aren’t enough lifeboats to rescue all of the crew members, a precarious boat is built and 147 men are forced to get on board, leaving them to their fate. Hunger, the weather’s inclemency, madness and a violent fight is triggered on this drifting boat. A never-ending horror. Out of these 147 men, only nine survived. One of them was Savigny, a relentless medical officer, and Thomas a rebel naval private. Confronted, they live this situation showing different attitudes to survive. A scene where they show the biggest cruelty and the most tender commiseration.
San Sebastian Film Festival
Since its creation in 1953 it has established itself as one of the 14 "A" category competitive festivals accredited by the FIAPF, of which it has one of the lowest budgets. It has hosted several important events of the history of cinema, such as the international premieres of Vertigo, by Alfred Hitchcock (who attended the Festival) and the European premiere of Star Wars. It was the first festival attended by Roman Polanski and has helped advance the professional careers of filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon-ho and Pedro Almodóvar.