Last weekend, we went to the Feria de Abril festivities being held in the Turia riverbed by the Puente de Calatrava.
Feria de Abril is a hugely popular festival in Andalusia — particularly Sevilla. Being party people, the large population of Andalusians in Valencia have set up a mini-fiesta for themselves. We went during lunchtime, when not much was going on, and it was like stepping into a David Lynch movie…
Feria de Abril – The Lost Screenplay
Foreigners enter a tent, looking for lunch. Extremely loud flamenco music plays over a scratchy speaker. On a stage in the background, a woman dances with a child.
A waitress wearing a polka-dot dress and a mountain of make-up takes their order, then blows cigarette smoke into their faces. The camera pans around the tent, revealing many other waitresses, all identically dressed, all of them smoking.
Outside the tent, in an otherwise empty plaza of sand & dust, a girl in traditional dress is riding a horse with a boy who might be her twin. [They both turn to look at the camera.]
Large, fat men in drag enter the tent. They dance on the stage, then exit without fanfare.
Feria de Abril – The Lost Screenplay
Foreigners enter a tent, looking for lunch. Extremely loud flamenco music plays over a scratchy speaker. On a stage in the background, a woman dances with a child.
A waitress wearing a polka-dot dress and a mountain of make-up takes their order, blowing her cigarette smoke into their faces. The camera pans around the tent, revealing many other waitresses, all identically dressed and all of them smoking … in unison.
Outside the tent, in an otherwise empty plaza of sand & dust, a girl in traditional dress is riding a horse with a boy who might be her brother. Or not…
Large, fat men in drag enter the tent. They dance on the stage, then exit as mysteriously as they entered.
Meanwhile, a small, round, and mentally handicapped man has appeared. He’s intently watching the girl riding the horse. There’s something vaguely sinister about him.
Seriously, that sounds like a movie I want to watch!
The tent was full, and we were the only foreigners — so I think we got a good taste of real Andalusian culture. And it tasted weird!
