The Night of the Butterflies

Genious, daring, intuitive and vital, Carla feels genuinely free in the gray and tired Barcelona of the early seventies. Its flashing appearance in the world of music-hall means a true aesthetic and moral turn. Her dazzling, original and talented creations have nothing to do with the routine that then dominated the evening shows both in the small stage of the Bodega Apolo or in El Molino. Discovered by a dark journalist, soon we find a Carla reigning in the most fashionable spots: Panams, Bocaccio, Lord Black, Jazz Colon, or lost in Drugstore. The progressive artists and intellectuals adore her, and make of her a symbol of change and modernity.

But night has tempting labyrinths, and behind this beautiful, suggestive and disturbing girl hides an immensely vulnerable woman, who at heart just wants to enjoy life with fullness.

Written as a tribute to striper Christa Leem, Jordi Coca delves into the years of predemocracy and, through real and imaginary characters, makes a splendid, critical and lucid portrait of an era.