The feature film 'Radical', by Mexican director Christopher Zalla, has been the star of the first presentation of the eight Ibero-American films competing in the Official Section for the Biznaga de Oro Award.

After ‘Menudas piezas’, education was once again the main theme of the screenings on the third day of the Malaga Festival. After its screening at the Sundance Festival, Zalla said that his feature film tells a moving story with a universal message and aims to raise awareness of the importance of education. It is the true story of a teacher at a public school in a border town, where both the pupils and the rest of the residents have no hope for the future.

Actor Eugenio Derbez plays the main carácter in the movie. This teacher discovers and drives the potential of a gifted girl who managed to fulfil her dream of studying aerospace engineering even though her fate was to survive by digging through rubbish, like her family. The film also featured non-professional actors, who were cast in the same village where the film was shot.

'A gringo had to write an article about Paloma in a US magazine so that Mexicans would know the story of this girl, who managed to get the highest mark in a state test'. Zalla has revealed that Derbez sent her this article, of which they were particularly struck by the fact that there was no mention of her teacher. He was the person who contributed to this dream come true and who even stood up against the education system to implement a new approach to education in schools.

The real story took place in the Mexican town of Matamoros, but they could not shoot there as close as possible.

Zalla confessed that it was during the pandemic that he became even more aware of the difficulty and complexity of the teaching profession. 'When school was stopped, the parents suddenly had to act as teachers and be present in many online classes'.  This made him realise that society needs to value the work of teachers more highly. And he believes that this context helped to gradually produce more and more films focusing on education.

Despite its hopeful approach, it also portrays reality with a critical and denunciatory nature. Throughout the film, there is violence, political corruption, street gangs and the struggle for survival, which pushes children to drop out of school to contribute to the family's economy.

It will be released in cinemas across Spain on the 15th of March. Zalla is confident that it will have the same success as in Mexico, where, according to him, it has been a blockbuster since the first week of its release.