Querer to Bow on Movistar Plus+

Querer, the first TV series directed by Spanish filmmaker Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Lullaby), is slated to bow on Movistar Plus+ in October.

In the four-episode show, a woman goes to the police station with her lawyer to report her husband for continuous rape throughout their 30-year marriage, which had appeared perfect to everyone else. Her husband claims to have done nothing wrong and feels as if he is a wronged victim, and their two sons are forced to pick a side.

Their eldest son decides to support his father because he himself is afraid of having crossed that line. Their youngest chooses to back his mother because he has also felt that invisible violence.

The cast features Nagore Aranburu (Irati, Intimacy, Loreak), Pedro Casablanc (B, The Film), Miguel Bernardeau (1899, Elite), Iván Pellicer (Paradise) and Loreto Mauleón (God’s Crooked Lines, Patria).

Querer was created and directed by Ruiz de Azúa, who also wrote the script with Eduard Sola and Júlia de Paz. It is a Movistar Plus+ original series, made in collaboration with Kowalski Films and Feelgood Media.

Prior to becoming available on Movistar Plus+, Querer will have its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival (Zinemaldia), running from September 20 to 28, and will participate out of competition in the official selection.

“To premiere my first series at Zinemaldia is very special,” Ruiz de Azúa said. “Querer was born as a series, but beyond its episodic structure, I always visualized it from a cinematographic point of view. So, I feel very honored that its premiere is at Zinemaldia, in that context of love for cinema and in a cinema. As director, that means something magical, to be able to live the story together with the audience from the seats and receive at that very moment the sensations or emotions of the audience. Moreover, Querer is a series linked to the Basque Country from the script to the shooting, and I am thrilled that the first time we share it with everyone will be in San Sebastian.

“The viewer will find the story of how a rape accusation blows up an apparently conventional family. Miren reports her husband for rape after 30 years of marriage, and this serious accusation forces her children to choose between their mother or their father. We wanted to push questions about sexual consent to the limit, to question the viewer as if they were a member of the family. There are questions that are difficult to answer and an intense emotional journey, as the judicial journey goes hand in hand with the family journey.”