Semana Santa in Sevilla, Spain is an event that dates back to the 1300’s. It takes place the week leading up to Easter, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Everybody floods the streets to watch processions that are tributes to the Passion of Jesus Christ. These processions are followed by Nazarenos, individuals wearing hooded robes. These Nazarenos belong to the brotherhood of the church represent. By being one, individuals show their extreme dedication to the tradition itself. It’s an experience unlike any other as Sevilla’s streets are filled with music, incense, and the feeling closeness from the entire community.
Captured and explained in the documentary Semana Santa Sevilla, Spanish-American filmmaker Marcos Ortega-Morales, a junior here at ILS, just premiered his work. Although Marcos was born and raised in Miami, he also grew up in the culture of Sevilla thanks to his father.
Just like many other young individuals shown in his documentary, Marcos is also a Nazareno, “a brother of Santa Cruz.” It’s a brotherhood present throughout generations of his family. Marcos joined this brotherhood as a way to feel a deeper connection with his family.
This documentary was inspired by the “spark” ignited in him when enjoying this cinematic celebration. Ever since he was a young boy, he’s taken great joy in being able to witness Semana Santa in Sevilla, Spain year after year. But he felt surprised that not everybody shared the same love for this tradition. He wanted to share it with not only his friends but also with the world.
“For years I felt it was crazy that none of my friends had ever experienced Semana Santa in Sevilla, because to me it was the most incredible thing in the world,” said Marcos.
This documentary is Marcos’s “grand passion” project. Film is something he has loved since he was six-years-old. This documentary has been a lifelong dream for him that which he was able to accomplish thanks to his parent’s support every step of the way.
Creating this documentary was not an easy task as the entire process took several months. During Semana Santa in Sevilla, the streets are bombarded with many people. This results in people having to navigate through huge crowds to get a view of the processions. In Marcos’s case, he had to make his way through huge crowds to not only see the processions, but to also get a good angle of them. This was difficult for him considering he was a “lone crew.” He had to manage all his equipment, in addition to being restrained by his formal suit.
“What went into the documentary was a lot of rigorous planning behind the scenes, but also many in-the-moment decisions that I had to carefully make in order to capture everything on camera,” he added.
He also shared what this documentary means to him and what he hopes it will accomplish,
Here’s what some ILS students had to say about the documentary itself:
“I had no idea what Semana Santa was until I watched the documentary. It taught me a lot,” said junior Paloma Rosania.
“I had heard about Semana Santa before, but I didn’t fully understand what it was about until I watched this documentary,” said junior Daniella Coro.
“ I watched it because I heard people in my class talking about it. I think being able to capture that event is a unique opportunity,” said sophomore Mia Groom.
Check out Marcos’ documentary by clicking this link.
https://vimeo.com/943216265?share=copy