Carmen & Lola

Lola (Zaira Romero) and Carmen (Rosy Rodríguez), live on the outskirts of Madrid in a poor and fiercely Catholic gypsy community where a woman must marry very young, have children and wait upon her man until death do them part. It is at the local open-air market that the two girls first lock eyes, detonating an explosion of first love. This meeting opens the floodgates to what will prove a journey replete with as much unbridled emotion as repression. As their relationship unfolds with purity, innocence and intensity, Carmen and Lola will have to battle against a community that is determined to tear them apart with its strict traditions.

Bilbao-born writer-director Arantxa Echevarría is no stranger to documentaries, an attribute that makes her feature-length fiction debut feel both authentic and urgent. Fully immersing the audience in an unfamiliar environment replete with terrific performances featuring flamenco- Roma style music, Echevarría and her exceptional non-professional cast deliver an empathetic depiction of forbidden love in a repressive society. Carmen and Lola is inspiring, necessary and beautiful.