Alternate Titles: Speak Sunlight
Carol Polakoff
Denise O'Dell, Carol Polakoff
Carol Polakoff, John Milarky, Natxo López
Carmen Machi, Karra Elejalde, Matteo Artuñedo
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Paris, 1965: Maruja and Manolo work as cook and butler in a diplomat’s house on
Avenue Foch. They are surrogate parents to young Alan/Alanito, (15) and have brought
him up as their own as his older, uninterested parents wine, dine and travel the globe. In
Maruja’s kitchen he has unconditional love, puffs of the occasional Gauloise, nips of
port and no end of Basque and Galician humor.
This fateful summer, Maruja gets a diagnosis that shakes her to the core, and keeping
this devastating secret to herself, decides to return home after 30 years in exile from
Franco’s Spain to Pamplona with Alanito and Manolo. Here they must face their long
buried past as Maruja is determined to give Alanito life lessons that will make him a man
and memories that will last a lifetime.
Based on the memoir “Speak Sunlight” by Alan Jolis. Translated into English.
2022