The 66th edition of Seminci held a special screening of the documentary Me Cuesta Hablar de Mí [I Find it Hard to Talk about Myself], a self-reflection by veteran actress Charo López, directed by filmmaker Chema de la Peña, at the Cervantes Theatreon Tuesday, October 26th, 2021.
The film covers the different stages of the life of the actress from Salamanca, awarded last year with the Spike of Honour. From the 1960s, through the Transition, the ‘golden age’ of series, Pilar Miró’s time, her theatre works, with film director Almodóvar, Gonzalo Suárez or Basilio Martín Patino and her Goya for Secretos del Corazón [Secrets of the Hear]. The star looks back to rediscover her career.
“The name Charo López is associated with my childhood. When I was eight years old I used to walk past her house, and my mother, who knew the actress’ family, would say to me: ‘Here lives actress Charo López.’ But it wasn’t until 1985, at the premiere of Martín Patino’s Paraísos Perdidos [Lost Paradises], that I was able to put a face to her name,” says Chema de la Peña, who admitted that everything changed in that year: “I realised that being from Salamanca I could go far with someone who had lived and run through the same streets where I lived,” he stated to the audience present in the hall.
About their relationship, beyond the profesional aspect, the director believes that “it has been discovering a woman who has marked, not only due to her physique, but due to her way of making films. In the 1960s and 70s she asserted herself as a woman and as an actress, deciding the steps to follow herself in her own career,” he mentioned.
Born in Salamanca, Chema de la Peña is an economist and self-taught filmmaker. In 1993 he created his own production company ‘Artimaña Producciones’ with which he shot his first short films, commercials, and music videos. As a director he appeared in the world of feature films with the film Shacky Carmine. To date he has directed nine feature films with nominations at the Goya Awards.
