'Camarón, the movie'

Once upon a time there was a timid, fair-haired
young boy who sang real well. He learned more and more and then met another
young boy who played the guitar real well, and together they experimented
and did new things with flamenco that a lot of people liked. They became
famous, and as time went by, lots of things happened. Like for example,
the singer died when he was only 42, and after that his fame grew exponentially
until not only his music, but the individual himself became the object
of profound admiration for an entire generation. And so it was practically
inevitable that the story of José Monge Cruz, “Camarón
de la Isla”, would be told in a full-length feature film.

Foto: Pipo Fernández

Director Jaime Chávarri, screenwriter Álvaro de Amo and
producer Monoria Films, with the collaboration of Televisión Española
and Telemadrid have joined forces to make it all happen with a film to
be titled “Camarón, la película”. Shooting is
set to begin on February 28th, Day of Andalucía, because these
little details also count.

The expressed aim is to put together a loose accounting of the singer’s
life, with less attention to historical accuracy than to creating an entertaining
product, or as the director commented: “We’ll leave the historical
data for the investigators, and some day a great documentary will be made”.
All the same, we can expect to see key people from Camarón’s
life such as Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, Paco Cepero and his widow
Dolores ‘La Chispa’ represented in the film.

The actor who will bring Camarón to life on the big screen is Oscar
Jaenada. Paco de Lucía is the responsibility of Raúl Rocamora,
Tomatito will be interpreted by Alfonso Begara and the filming will take
place in various locales including the Madrid tablao Torres Bermejas.
As is only natural, the songs and cantes of flamenco’s most popular
idol for those of a certain age will be the main soundtrack, and it has
already been announced that there is no intent to gloss over possibly
negative points of the life of this revolutionary singer become legend.

EZ