Boutique sales agency Bendita Film Sales, (“The August Virgin,” “Samsara,” “Manas”) has boarded “Dance of the Living” (“La Lucha”), the second feature as a director of José Alayón and an awaited title in the burgeoning Canary Island homegrown film industry uniting its talents and now bound for its world premiere at San Sebastian’s prestigious New Directors strand.
“Dance of the Living” is written by producer-writer-director Marina Alberti (“Aitana”) and Samuel M. Delgado, director of the Alayón-produced Venice Critics’ Week title “They Carry Death,” both of whom are Canary Island-based. It unspools on the blowsy desert Canary Island of Fuerteventura, where Miguel and daughter Mariana struggle to move forward after the death of wife and mother Pilar. Their whole world evolves around traditional Canarian wrestling. But Miguel’s has a chronic knee injury and Mariana rages at the world, pushing her to break combat rules.
“As the championship final approaches, father and daughter find themselves on uncertain ground, searching for a way back to each other before it’s too late,” the synopsis ends.
“Canarian wrestling is perhaps one of the last surviving spaces of cultural resistance in the archipelago,” Alayón told Variety. “It originates from the islands’ earliest inhabitants and continues to endure in the collective imagination. Every gesture, every movement, every action, repeated for over 500 years like a ritual, carries both ancestral mystery and the defiance of what refuses to disappear. There’s something unique about this practice that goes far beyond sport. That spirit, the quiet pride in holding one’s ground, in refusing to yield, has become the driving force of my film,” he added.
“We were drawn to ‘Dance of the Living’ for its subtlety and depth. It tells the story of a father and daughter who drift apart after a loss and try to reconnect through a tradition that both defines and confines them. It’s a film that speaks of pain, pride, and the strange tenderness that sometimes holds families together,” Renart added.
“José Alayón captures it all with quiet precision, in a way that is intimate and restrained yet resonates universally. His sensibility blends rare classicism with a singular way of seeing the world. We’re proud to present his vision to international audiences, beginning with the world premiere in San Sebastián,” he added.
That vision takes in not just wrestling but the film’s sense of belonging knit by the striking visual universe of Fuerteventura, shot in 16mm, which ranges from its arid mountains, plucked seemingly from Mars, to the barren scrub desert where Miguel and Mariana live to its light, caught in a shot of house lights in a valley seen from night darkness through dawn.
“Dance” is set up at Tenerife-based El Viaje Films which Alayón founded in 2004 and whose credits also include Lav Diaz’s 2025 Cannes Première title “Magellan,” Macu Machín’s double Malaga Fest winner “The Undergrowth” and “Matadero,” from “Sirât” co-writer Santiago Fillol.
Blond Indian Films was founded in Colombia by director and Colombian sound designer Carlos Esteban García and Danish producer Katrin Pors. It co-produced Cannes Directors’ Fortnight standout “Birds of Passage.”
Jose Alayón
