Story of three Catalans missing in Ireland opens in movie theaters

'Ardara' is a new Catalan film out this Friday that tells the story of a trip to Ireland made by three young friends - Maria, Bruna and Macià - whose paths cross in the small town of Ardara on the coast of Ulster.

The first feature film by Raimon Fransoy and Xavier Puig, 'Ardara' is shot in a documentary style and follows Macià's attempt to repeat the trip to Ireland his parents made years earlier. In the town of Ardara he meets two Barcelona actors, before all three disappear.

Through the eyes of the local people who had met them, the film traces the trio's footsteps through video recordings they leave behind, reflecting as it does on how events and experiences get explained and are turned into stories.

What's more, 'Ardara' is also the first film of actor Bruna Cusí, filmed before she burst onto the movie scene with celebrated roles in films, such as 'Incerta glòria' or 'Estiu 1993,' which won her the Goya prize for Best New Female Actor.

Fransoy and Puig's first feature film

The film's makers, Fransoy and Puig, earned their stripes making music documentaries and video clips, but this first foray into feature films has so far proved a hit, with the film, which was crowdfunded on the Verkami platform, chosen to close out the Inedit film festival.

Shot four years ago, the idea for the film came Fransoy's time living in England and wondering whether his son, when he is old enough, will revisit the places he briefly lived in as a small child, whether he would remember anything, and what he might make of it.

The film, which seamlessly blends the use of Catalan, Spanish and English, was shot in two blocs, in the summer of 2014 and the winter of the following year, and the directors point out that the lack of resources to make it was compensated by the dedication of the film crew.

They also reserve special praise for the Irish people involved in the filming: "Without the generosity of the locals this film could never have been made, and it drinks deeply from the Irish tradition of oral narrative and of legend," Bruna told La Vanguardia newspaper.