Principal photography has begun on period drama, Altamira, directed by Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire; Greystoke) and starring Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In; Autómata). Production will take place on location in Northern Spain.
The English language production also stars Golshifteh Farahani (Eden; About Elly), Nicholas Farrell (Grace of Monaco; Chariots of Fire), Henry Goodman (Hooligans; Notting Hill), Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent; 20 Ans d’Écart), Clément Sibony (The Hundred-Foot Journey; The Tourist), Tristan Ulloa (After; The Frost), Irene Escolar (Las ovejas no pierden el tren; Presentimientos) and Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding; Hysteria). Young British actress Allegra Allen makes her film debut.
The screenplay is by Olivia Hetreed (Girl with a Pearl Earring; Wuthering Heights) and Jose Luis Lopez-Linares (El pollo, el pez y el cangrejo real; Geraldine in Spain). José Luis Alcaine (Passion; The Skin I Live in) is the cinematographer.
The producers are Lucrecia Botín, Alvaro Longoria (Morena Films, Spain) and Andy Paterson (Sympathetic Ink, UK); Alexandra Lebret (Mare Nostrum, France) co-produces with
Laura Bickford as executive producer.
The film tells the true story of nine-year old Maria and her father Marcelino who, in 1879, found the first pre-historic cave paintings at the now world famous Altamira cave. Heartbroken when her glorious discovery brings disgrace on her father, the little girl and her parents must fight prejudice and spite to restore the family honour and reveal the truth.
A Spanish/French co-production, the film will be shot in many of the locations where the real events took place, around Santillana del Mar in Cantabria.
1879. Amidst the green hills, snow-capped peaks and dramatic coastline of Northern Spain, nine year old Maria Sautuola (Allegra Allen), and her father, Marcelino (Antonio Banderas), an amateur archaeologist, discover something truly extraordinary that will change the history of mankind: the first cave art – breathtakingly fresh and accomplished paintings of galloping bison.
But Maria’s mother, the lovely and devout Conchita (Golshifteh Farahani), is not the only one disturbed at the idea that prehistoric “savages” could have created such magnificent art. The Catholic Church sees the claim of ten thousand year old art as an attack on Biblical truth and, shockingly, the scientific community, led by prehistorian Cartailhac (Clément Sibony), condemn Marcelino and his discovery as fakes.
Maria’s fairytale world grows dark and her attempts to help only make things worse. The family is thrown into crisis and the cave locked up. It takes all their love for each other to find a way through to redemption and recognition.
