Querejeta, Gracia

(1962- )

   Gracia Querejeta is the daughter of legendary producer Elías Querejeta, who backed some of the most artistically ambitious film projects of the 1960s and 1970s. Her film debut at seven was as a reluctant actress in Antxón Eceiza's Querejeta-produced Las secretas intenciones (The Secret Intentions, 1970). She shares with many of her father's projects a focus on family relations (particularly among women) and a reflective mood. Her first work as director was Tres en la marca (Three on the Mark, 1988), a contribution to an umbrella project called Siete huellas (Seven Footprints).

   This prepared her for her feature debut, Una estación de paso (Transit Station, 1992), in which themes of the past, family, and memory were prominent. Her next project, El último viaje de Robert Rylands (The Last Journey of Robert Rylands, 1996) was inspired by a short section of Javier Marías's Oxford-set novel Todas las almas (All Souls), and shared some themes with her first film. Both films were co-written by her father. In 1998, she coordinated a television project on the Socialist Party primaries, which alternated between the two candidates and became the documentary Primarias.

   Her next feature was Cuando vuelvas a mi lado (When You Come Back to Me, 1999), the story of three very different sisters, estranged for years, who go on a journey to fulfill their mother's last wish and uncover dark areas in their lives. It was a heartfelt film, Querejeta's most personal to date, and featured superb performances by Mercedes Sampietro and Adriana Ozores. The latter also had a substantial part in Héctor (2004), a coming-of-age story about an orphaned boy who comes to live with his aunt in a blue-collar district in Madrid. Siete mesas de billar francés (Seven French Billiard Tables, 2007) returns to the theme of mourning and family legacies. Again, it focuses on Ángela and Charo (played by Maribel Verdú and Blanca Portillo), who grapple with the passing away of a man who was the former's father and the latter's husband.

   Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema by Alberto Mira