‘Time of Silence and Destruction,’ About the Writer Who Dragged Spanish Novel Into the 20th Century, Pounced on by Filmax (EXCLUSIVE)

John Hopewell

21 September 2024 at 2:27 am·2-min read

SAN SEBASTIAN — Barcelona-based Filmax has acquired international sales rights to “Time of Silence and Destruction,” a bio-doc feature about Luis Martín-Santos who, along with great friend Juan Benet, revolutionized the Spanish novel, as James Joyce and William Faulkner had achieved decades before outside Spain.

Martin-Santos’ “Tiempo de Silencio” (1962) and Benet’s “Volverás a Región” (1967) not only broke with conventional social realism but dragged the Spanish novel into the 20th century using stream of consciousness and shifting narrators and were hugely influential on younger writers active down to this day, shifting novel’s focus from chronicle to a high-style and language.

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Led by Martín-Santos’ daughter Rocío and son Luis, who were just children the the writer died tragically in a car accident in 1964, “Time of Silence and Destruction” sees them open boxes of Martín-Santos’ unpublished papers as they talk to the few surviving friends and colleagues, situating Martín-Santos in his context, such as the Academia Errante, a group of free-thinking Basques in San Sebastián which crossed political divides. A ground-breaking psychiatrist, Martín-Santos also became a leading member of Spain’s Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), which now governs in Spain. The film also explores Martín-Santos’ second novel, published unfinished in 1975 after his death.

Directed by Joan López Lloret (“Hermanos Oligor”) and produced by Marta Esteban’s Imposible Films, the career long producer of Cesc Gay (“Truman,” “The People Upstairs”), in co-production with public broadcaster RTVE, “Time of Silence and Destruction” world premieres at the year’s San Sebastián Festival, opening its Made in Spain strand on Sept. 21.

“‘Time of Silence and Destruction’ is the story of the great post-war writer, Luis Martín-Santos. The film aims to expose new generations to his literary work, while offering previously unseen writings to those who thought they already knew him. Martín-Santos is an endless source of ideas which still shake up consciences and provoke with their intelligence today.”

“It’s funny how life turns out sometimes. Martín-Santos just so happens to be a writer I’m very fond of because he wrote a book that my late grandfather used to force me to read!” said Ivan Díaz, Filmax head of international.

“So I am obviously thrilled to now be selling a documentary about him,” he added. “As a writer, Martín-Santos has become a legendary figure in the world of Spanish literature and it really is such a shame that we weren’t able to enjoy his talent for longer.”

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