Goya, the Secret of the Shadow

Non-Fiction

Starting from characters who claim to possess an unknown Goya painting, the film traces a Goya-esque, contemporary journey through the art world and Goya's universe, via his extraordinary legend...

Ramón, an art photographer, one day buys a painting at a Barcelona auction house: a 19th-century anonymous portrait which, he and his distinctive expert advisors claim, is none other than a Goya, a Goya in the shadows... This tale launches a personal voyage to Goya, a unique approach, an auteur's contemporary path through art and Goya's realm, his singular legend...

Premiered at the Museo Nacional del Prado, the film received research support from the French Government via the Académie de France à Madrid, featuring leading Goya experts: Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Valeriano Bozal, Jesusa Vega, among others.

(Spain, 2011, 77 min.)

A production by

Benecé

Milagros Producciones

In co-production with

Televisió de Catalunya

With the support of

Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals (ICEC)

Casa de Velázquez - Académie de France à Madrid

"In just over an hour, the director crafts a suggestive and deeply personal vision of the great Goya... The images drift back and forth in a labyrinthine rhythm that echoes 'The Aspern Papers' or a Sherlock Holmes investigation"

"Mauas traces a journey that goes from the legend to the social phenomenon, proposing a reflection on art as a business, with the dealings between innocent buyers and those who take over the art market, but he also includes a look into the identity of the artist and the authorship of his canvases"

"The film goes far beyond, and features dozens of experts who speak about Goya, on how he paints, feels, lives, and on how he works, hears, or signs…"

"Like a Hitchcockian McGuffin, the theory of the secret signatures serves as a narrative device that allows the film to speak about the legend surrounding Goya"

"Mauas describes Goya as a 'complex' artist, present in a kaleidoscopic story"

"The film, in the mode of a mock documentary, approaches the painter and his work in a very personal way"

"Like a Hitchcockian McGuffin, the theory of the secret signatures serves as a narrative device that allows the film to speak about the legend surrounding Goya"

Team:

Direction

David Mauas

Screenplay

David Mauas
in collaboration with
Joan Ripollès
Mario Catelli

Production

Xavier Atance
David Mauas

TVC Executive Producer

Jordi Ambrós

Production Coordination

Anna Vilella

Director of Photography

Mimmo Pizzigallo

Sound

César Fernández

Editing

David Mauas
Tomas Suárez

Post-Production

Tomás Suárez

Original Music

Ian Briton

CAST (in order of appearance)

Ramón Calvet – Art photographer

Joan y Jaume Font – Investors

Francina Alsina e Inmaculada Lidón – Handwriting experts

Juan Ignacio de la Vega – Expert in discovering Goya' s signatures

Caterina Bolet – Art restorer

Richard de Willermin Alcalá – Alcalá Subastas

Pablo Melendo – Sotheby’s Spain

Manuela B. Mena Marqués – Museo Nacional del Prado

José Luis Ona González – Archaeologist and Historian

Joaquín Gimeno – Mayor of Fuendetodos

Valeriano Bozal – Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Jesusa Vega – Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Juliet Wilson-Bareau – Independent Scholar

Arturo Ansón Navarro – Universidad de Zaragoza

Mercedes Águeda Villar – Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Antonio Gascón Rico – Chronicler

Bruno Rodríguez Argüelles – Axa-Art, Spain and Portugal.

José Enrique Carrera Tellado – Police Brigade for Historic Heritage

José Hernández – Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Interested in this project?

Enquire about exhibition rights, screenings and Q&A sessions.