El Agua

It is summer in a small village in south-eastern Spain. A storm threatens to cause the river that runs through it to overflow again. A popular old belief claims that some women are predestined to disappear with each new flood, because they have the “water inside”. A band of young people is trying to overcome the weariness of a summer in the village that smells of death by smoking, dancing, and lusting after each other. In this electric atmosphere that precedes the storm, Ana and José live a love affair until the storm bursts.

With her feature film debut "El Agua", selected by the renowned Quinzaine des réalisateurs in Cannes, Elena López Riera belongs to the new generation of young female directors moving Spanish filmmaking. The Swiss co-production shows very aptly how three generations of women hold together in a patriarchal society.