Synopsis
In the post-war period, there were as many as 6,000 guerrilla fighters and 100,000 liaison agents in Spain. Francisco Martínez, known as ‘El Quico’, is one of the last surviving witnesses to the armed resistance that was organised across large parts of León and Galicia against the dictatorship until 1952. He turned 100 on 1 October 2025 and recounts with extraordinary clarity his Republican childhood, the violence of Franco’s coup d’état, the network of citizens that organised itself to hide those on the run, and the day-to-day life of the guerrillas. Going underground was the only option to escape torture and death. The beautiful landscapes of El Bierzo, Ourense and La Cabrera accompany Quico’s account and transport us to an era of terror, one that remains little known to most Spaniards even today.
Awards
- 2025 Bajío Documentary Film Festival (Mexico): Best Documentary
- 2025 SamhainBaucogna Film Festival (Vila Real-Portugal): Best Documentary
- 2025 Sicilian Film Awards (Italy): Best Documentary
Data sheet
Direction Joan Gamero
Screenplay Joan Gamero
Cinematography Joan Gamero
Edition Joan Gamero
Music Marc Sastre
Executive production Joan Gamero
Starring Francisco Martínez El Quico
Production Paradocs
Trailer
Joan Gamero
A native of Barcelona, born in Madrid, he’s a director, screenwriter, photographer and cameraman by vocation, having started out filming in S-8mm. He studied film at L’Escola d’Estudis Artístics de L’Hospitalet (Barcelona) and worked as an assistant director on various feature films. In 1975, he joined TVE-Catalunya, where he worked as a producer on programmes such as Metrópolis, Documentos TV and Redes, amongst others. He worked as a producer at TVE, where his notable works include the series Prisma, which he created and directed, and the documentary Vivir la utopía. Two of his short fiction films and several of his documentaries were screened at the Berlinale, San Sebastián, Cinespaña, INPUT, the Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games, Expo Seville ’92 and the Centre Pompidou (Paris). Passionate about documentaries, he prefers, wherever possible, to film and edit his own projects himself.
Selected filmography
2026 Guerrillero
2025 El petit peó
2021 Londres-Ibiza-La Floresta
2016 Els Karamazoff, a walk on the SoHo years
