Supporting Actresses (Secundarias),  a superb feature film from Spain, is bound to be a favorite at the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival. Everything in this beautifully executed film directed by Arturo Dueñas, is centered around a play (Cartas al Emperador, “Letters to the Emperor”) and its ensemble’s representation of it. The film title references the marginality of our main characters who are secondary actresses inside the play. The production of Cartas al Emperador positions each woman in support of the king’s story as the tangential, dramatic or comedic foil to the straight-man; all of them merely women who marked his life by visiting on his deathbed. 

In turn, the audience is drawn into their absorption with the arc of the story and their responsibilities in it. We don’t get to know the dying King of Spain (circa 1558) because his role is presentational—we are only familiarized with the work of the women behind the curtain. 

The real names of the actors in Secundarias are used as the names of the actresses in Cartas, likely elevating a sense of naturalism for the actors themselves. This 81-minute film focuses on the relationships and artistry of the five actresses on their opening night, as they negotiate all the conditions necessary to put on a good show. This gives the audience the pleasure of seeing two stories in parallel. As the ensemble prepares for the big show, we feel the silence and reverberating energy of the theater where they have rehearsed the play over and over again. When the show starts, the noble sound of the royal dialogue floats in from the stage, under the more immediate discussions of the actresses as they work to keep it moving.

The action on stage is given a distance, as the actresses watch it through a screen or from the wings to see their cues and admire each other’s work. This gives the backstage more reality in juxtaposition to the fantasies of their storytelling in the play. The behind-the-scenes dimension is especially felt in Olga’s role as the costume designer who reveals her own desires to perform. She has a by-rote knowledge of the script, which becomes useful when one of the actresses cannot be found on her cue.

The naturalistic script, camerawork, and acting, both on and off the stage, are superb.

Filming backstage is done in black & white, while the stage is given color, emphasizing a vibrancy and excitement in the live nature of their craft. This dual color scheme is introduced in the first frame of the film, which sets the play in the Teatro Calderón in Spain on opening night on March 13, 2020, a day before the Spanish government declared a lockdown for the pandemic.

Supporting Actresses was filmed in one shot, insisting on that live, continuous aspect that creates the urgency of theater, especially the night of a show’s debut. The camera has an intimate relationship with the actors, allowing viewers to observe the intricacies of each dynamic and personality in the context of adrenaline and creative collaboration. One really feels like a fly on the wall in this theater, a special peek into the huge and emotional efforts of artists. It is a pleasure to witness these colleagues’ love for each other, and their collective commitment to the success of their show.

Bea opens the cinematic, artistic quality of their ensemble buildup with the ritual of her hands narrowing the frame at the beginning of the film as she enters the theater. Widening her hands and the frame before she leaves creates a soft release at the end and returns us to reality even after all the craziness of the climax. This ritual allows the audience to leave the urgency of the story behind, and ties a bow on the nuance and sensitivity of the whole orchestration. The solemnity of Bea’s ritual shows a reverence for the persevering grace of artmaking in the chaos, spontaneity, and richness of life.

Secundarias, or Supporting Actresses, is beautiful in every way and draws the viewer in with its authenticity. This author will keep an eye out for more by the director and these actresses!

Supporting Actresses screens at the 2025 New Jersey International Film Festival on Saturday, June 7th.  The film will be Online for 24 Hours on this showdate! Tickets are available for purchase here.

The 30th annual New Jersey International Film Festival will be taking place between May 30-June 13, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person when both are offered. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Kovacs will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, June 13 at 7PM! The in-person screenings and the Mike Kovacs concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date.  General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.

For more info go here: https://2025newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome