When it was released in 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one of the cult musicals of the LGTBI collective, there were still 17 years to go before Luis Navarrete was born. I was barely nine when Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) became another gay cultural phenomenon. However, these and other films of the genre – his favorites are red Mill (2001), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and included Eduardo Mannostieras (1990) – have served as inspiration for the film debut of the young Almeria director, who has just premiered The ghost of the sauna.
The debut of Luis Navarrete (Albox, 1992) is a musical tragicomedy of desire, love and death starring Antonia San Juan (Everything about my mother, The one that looms) and the newcomer Néstor Goenaga. Shot in the emblematic Paraíso sauna in Madrid, the film tells the story of Javi, who comes to the Popular Sauna looking for work to fulfill his dream of being a singer. The business is in low hours and Asun, the owner, decides to take him in in exchange for help. Soon, Javi will realize that everyone hides dark secrets. The eldest of them, the Phantom of the Sauna, a mysterious man who lives in the vents, and who ends up falling in love with the young man.
Luis Navarrete defines The ghost of the sauna What “A tribute to love and dreams, no matter who you love or what you want ”. Despite the obvious literary, musical and cinematographic references, “this film is unlike anything we have seen before: it is a classic but unpublished musical, sensitive and delicate, and at the same time deeply provocative,” according to Martin Spínola, co-writer and actor.
The ghost of the sauna It was born as the idea for a short film in 2018, “but several people said it was enough to make a feature film and we pushed forward,” explains the director. The process, like any debut feature, has not been easy, but after two years seeking support from producers and subsidies, they finally managed to carry out the project.
It was shot in July of this year, still in the middle of the pandemic, for two and a half weeks: “very little time, but the result has surprised us a lot”, admits Navarrete. And although it seems the opposite, having an actress as prestigious as Antonia San Juan for her debut was not complicated. “At first it is necessary to send the script to a famous actress, but they usually read it; Antonia liked it very much and wanted to do a musical, so we met for a coffee and she joined the project ”.
In the rest of the cast there are other faces known as Goizalde Núñez (The Serrano), Fernando Albizu (Fat), Javier Hernandez (Boat), Andrés Cheung (Physics or Chemistry) and the ‘drag queen’ Pupi Poisson, Supremme de Luxe and Tavi Gallart.
Own Luis Navarrete is the author of the script, with Martín Spínola. The man from Almeria has also written the songs, together with Ramón Grau, who with producer Paco Periago have put the music to the film.
A music, composed of seven songs and an extensive soundtrack, that “helps the viewer to immerse themselves in this magical world, revealing the unconscious of the characters”, in the words of Ramón Grau, the composer. It shows influences from the great Hollywood classics, such as The Phantom of the Opera O red Mill, as well as the operatic and post-romantic language of musical theater and other more modern styles, such as pop, disco and electro.
The sauna ghost have 29 nominations for the Goya Awards, among them for best film, new direction, leading actor and actress and adapted screenplay. This Monday the academy will announce the nominees, although Navarrete confesses that he finds it very difficult to find a place: “the academics have had a few days to see our film, so it would be a surprise to get a nomination.”
The film was released in theaters this Friday, November 19 and It is programmed in more than thirty rooms throughout Spain. At the moment it is not yet available in Almería, but it is available in nearby cities such as Granada (Megarama cinema at the Neptuno Shopping Center) and Murcia (Neocine Centrofama). Tickets can be purchased on the film’s website: www.elfantasmadelasauna.com.
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Luis Navarrete, a filmmaker who went to see a doctor
Luis Navarrete (Albox, 1992) began to study Medicine in Madrid. However, since I was a child I had had the movie bug: “I filmed things with my friends and cousins, but I never thought it could be a way of making a living,” he admits. Already in the capital he began to interact with people from the world. Thus, convinced that his future could go through the seventh art, he began to combine medicine and cinema, until in fourth year he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to films. He recorded several short films that were in various international festivals such as Queridísimo papa (2018), Directed by Lola (2019) and the video clip for La Rare eres tú by Tavi Gallart, Supremme Deluxe and Pupi Poisson.
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