J: Beyond Flamenco

The great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura continues the exploration of his country’s unique culture with this mesmerizing film about the Jota, the song and dance that originated in Spain’s Aragon region. Following his films Flamenco, Tango and Fados comes the turn of the Jota, which Saura knows well from his childhood in Aragon. “It’s very emotional to recover rhythms that you have lived since your childhood,” Saura said at the Toronto Film Festival, where J: Beyond Flamenco premiered. The Jota genre was so popular that it was celebrated in old Spanish cinema, and Saura uses footage from those films here. As the tradition of the Jota has faded in recent decades, Saura’s film aims to return it to center stage and depicts its revival among contemporary artists.