The Writer From a Country Without Bookstores (2019)

Original title

El escritor de un país sin librerías

Directed by

Marc Serena

Genre

documentary film

Country

Equatorial Guinea, Spain

Runtime

1h 21m

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A documentary follows writer Juan Tomas Avila Laurel, who fled Equatorial Guinea after protesting the dictatorship. It shows his life as a refugee in Spain and his return home to continue speaking out.

contemplativeseriouspersonalpoliticalreflectiveintimatelow-keyobservational

What happens

The Writer From a Country Without Bookstores is a documentary film that follows the life and work of Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, the most translated writer from Equatorial Guinea, who had to flee his country in 2011 after protesting against the dictatorship of Teodoro Obiang. The film shows his journey as a refugee in Spain, where he struggles to find recognition and support for his literature, and his return to his homeland, where he faces the risks and challenges of being a dissident voice. The film is directed by Marc Serena, a Spanish filmmaker and journalist, who co-wrote the script with Ávila Laurel himself. The a film was released in 2019 and received several awards and nominations at international film festivals. The film is a powerful and inspiring portrait of a writer who uses his words as a weapon against oppression and injustice. His style of writing depicts world history with a connection to Equatorial Guinea and other countries. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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