Synopsis


October 1965. Pamplona’s troupe of giant figures, a typical sight at the San Fermín festivities, is invited to parade along Fifth Avenue in New York. But not all of them will be allowed to appear: due to racial
discrimination, the American authorities will ban the participation of the two black giants.

Based on this historical incident, Muguruza will construct the story of Manex Unanue, the young man who was supposed to carry one of the black giants and who, disappointed with the decision of his companions to obey the order, decides not to go back home. The tale recounts, through this young man’s eyes, the events that marked the tumultuous society of the mid-60s: the race riots arising from the assassination of Malcolm X , the eccentricities of the characters in The Factory, the alliances between the Cuban secret service and the American Black Panthers, and the proto-hippy psychedelia of the first music festivals, the games of interests by spies on both sides during the Cold War, the spirit of Che in the Congo and Algeria and his death in Bolivia, and our own backyard: the grey, decrepit Francoist dictatorship.

After spending several years in Cuba where he will receive a varied training and meet Che before his journey to Bolivia, Manex will have to carry out a special mission: get a Black Panther who is in danger of being assassinated out of the United States and take him to Havana.

To do this, he will have to take a roundabout route, as the CIA suspects that Cuba is involved in these kinds of actions, even on its own ground, so the route has to fool the Company’s agents who are located everywhere in the world.

An intriguing story that combines fiction with reality: it talks of love, revolution and espionage. And always in the background, a soundtrack that manifests itself in a descriptive way and transports us to that era.

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Title:
Black is Beltza (2018)
Director:
Fermín Muguruza
Script:
Fermin Muguruza, Harkaitz Cano, Eduard Sola
Art director and assistant director:
Beñat Beitia
Animation director:
Iñigo Berasategi
Character creation:
Josep Homs
Extras design:
Pepe Boada
Genre:
Adult animation
Production:
Talka Records&Films
Duration:
80 min
Web:
blackisbeltza.eus