Summaries

Synopsis

In the late 16th Century, in the Court of Philip II, the House of Alba is fighting to regain the Kings favour and displace the rival faction of the House of Mendoza, led by the Princess of Éboli.On the night of Easter Monday, 1578, paid assassins ambush Juan de Escobedo and kill him. Mateo Vázquez, a priest and incorruptible official in the Kings service, is charged with the investigation of his murder.The Duke of Alba, who, despite his 71 years, has not lost a whit of his legendary energy and vigour, has for some time been relegated to a lesser role in the Court, due to the growing power of the Kings most influential secretary, Prime Minister Antonio Pérez.The situation in Flanders, under the command of the Kings charismatic illegitimate half-brother, is extremely delicate. On one hand, William of Orange, and, on the other, England and the still dormant Protestant heresy make the Low Countries an inhospitable place which is in constant conflict and where those who possess privileged information can acquire immense fortunes.John of Austria has sent his personal secretary, Juan de Escobedo, to intercede before the King, Philip II. Juan de Escobedo, presumptuous and arrogant, has returned to El Escorial on a mission to demand money from Philip II to finance the liberation of Mary, Queen of Scots, and thus begin a new royal line by marrying her to John of Austria.As chance would have it, Escobedo witnesses the murky and passionate romance between Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Éboli, whose extraordinary beauty is as dangerous as her ambition and difficult to resist, with Prime Minister Antonio Pérez. In addition, he also learns of their plan to block the sending of any aid to the Flemish territories, since that would harm their financial interests.From that moment on, Juan de Escobedo becomes the target of a series of failed attempts on his life.........

430 years separate us from the historical fact we are to narrate, but the shadows still hide from the public this great historic moment, and the significance of such event, that occurred on Easter Monday 1577 in King Phillip the Seconds renaissance court.It is really important to highlight the huge significance that the Kingdom of Spain had back then. It was said that this well-known monarch governed in domains where the sun never set.We should have the same intelligence as this monarch and take advantage of the power of this story and of its marvellous renaissance background, which illustrates Philip the Seconds era and existence. To show the art and the history from a cinematographic point of view.We understand artistic cinematographic creation as the sum of a set of different arts: literature, arquitecture, history, paintings, music, etc.We pretend that our movie is an ensemble of all these beautiful arts. This film could not be made without taking into account the aesthetic values and ethics of human history.Film, like the other arts, has always narrated in some way the lights and shadows of the human kind. With a bigger purpose, The El Escorial Conspiracy, filled with those lights and shadows, gathers such a very important historical fact recreated in the artistic frame called Renaissance, characterized and inspired by the ideas of a reborn classical world. A new art, a new path of expression, communication of arts & sciences. Lets not let this great historical moment pass, and let us be captured by the magic of film, for its great visual and artistic offers.Lets keep on telling well narrated stories; with content, emotion; stories that move us, capture us. Let us be carried to the place where the stories about the human genre can only take us, amusing us with its contradictions and the human capacity to do good and do bad. Movies will always exist, the audience is in constant demand for contents; it wants stories to be told, wants to be emotional, escape, have fun, and think. All this has sense if its at mercy of a good story and a good film story is full of many authors of the arts that make it possible with their own creativity.Our film, The El Escorial Conspiracy, will contribute to historical, artistical and cultural memory of an era, with a look back to the past, from the present and offering us a peek at future Spanish film making. [D-Man2010]