Roberto Bueso

Roberto was born in Valencia in 1986. After studying philosophy at the Universidad de Valencia, in 2007, Bueso completed his Ibero-American Master of Screenwriting (FIA) where he combined two of his passions: writing and movies. He later studied direction at ECAM and received the Extraordinary End of Degree Award with the short film LA NOCHE DE LAS MONCHONGAS, awarded at such festivals as Aguilar de Campoo, Alcine, and Versión Española (RTVE) short film contest. In 2019, he premiered his debut feature, LOVE BEATS, which participated in Official Selection at the Malaga Film Festival. FULL OF GRACE is his second feature film.

Director’s statement

“Shortly after finishing my first film Love Beats, producers Fernando Bovaira and Guillem Vidal-Folch made their first mention of the El Parral school. In the mid-nineties, a revolutionary nun named Marina overcame countless obstacles in order to create a soccer team that would transform the lives of the troubled homeless boys who lived there. I was immediately captivated by the premise. I had been wanting to tell a coming-of-age story, of the transition to adult life, but I wanted to place it in the stage that I consider the most critical and interesting—puberty—which is precisely the age of these boys. But the true story still had an ace up its sleeve: a few years later, Valdo, a footballer who played for over twenty years in the elite Spanish league, celebrated a goal by raising his shirt and displaying a message: “Thank you for everything, Sister Marina”. Valdo was one of those children who lived in El Parral. Óscar Díaz Cruz—my screenwriting partner—and I felt that this story should seek out the truth from a place of emotion and comedy, a genre that has always been my favorite and which I wanted to tackle more forcefully now, and even more so after meeting the real subjects. Sister Marina is a woman with a biting, irreverent sense of humor that makes you completely forget you are sitting across from a nun. It was also exciting to hear from Valdo about his childhood in El Parral and how Marina managed, with hardly any resources, to turn a vacant lot full of vines into an unlikely soccer field, how she figured out a way to take the boys out every Sunday in a dilapidated van and, finally, how this woman stoically endured the gazes of all those who saw her as a fish out of water. But beyond all the humor, what makes it truly special for me is the cunning and courage it took for this woman to inspire these kids and impart values to them. For me, this film speaks of true teaching, one that is persevering and that understands that a child always deserves a second chance. It is also a story that talks about the concept of “home” and of the need to shape a true family. [...]”