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CASTILLEJA, PUEBLO DE LA INMACULADA CONCEPCIÓN | PELÍCULA DOCUMENTAL (2025)

CASTILLEJA, PUEBLO DE LA INMACULADA CONCEPCIÓN is a documentary film commemorating the 625th anniversary of the arrival of the Immaculate Conception devotion in the town of Castilleja de la Cuesta.

After two years of filming, the documentary offers an in-depth exploration of the devotional history of the Immaculate Conception in this Sevillian town, through testimonies and previously unseen footage.

The film was produced by LaCanteraCrew, an audiovisual production company that has a focus on Andalusia. It was directed by Fran Expósito who leds a seville-based team.

In the film, we hear about the testimonies of people who attribute health to the intercession of the Immaculate Concepcion. Inmaculada Fernandez explains that she cries during rehearsal because as she sings she savors every line of the songs and deeply understands the lyrics. Every single lyric she sings, she says she sings like a prayer. Watching the women and men in the film explain their testimonies is very different that the experience of only reading about it. As people speak, they tear up, make hand gestures, rise in tone and emphasize parts of their story using volume. Placed between people speaking are clips of the devotional practices and traditions, making it possible to visually and audibly grasp the traditions such as the choir singing at night in the street.

Inmaculada explains that on December 7, she is thinking about the rosary, the decorations, praying the prayers, is affection with her family, and singing the chorus of songs while people respond. Jesús Leal explains that on that day, you feel so much joy. If you have problems, you don’t have them on that day. Antonio Rodríguez emphasizes that the people in the town celebrate and congratulate on another, because of the historical struggle the town underwent in defense of the Immaculate.

The testimonies of people in the film add insight into the meaning of the religious devotion. In “Beyond Observational Cinema,” David MacDougall addresses the limitations of purely observation cinema. He pushes for a participatory approach in ethnographic filmmaking that acknowledges both the observer and the observed and the encounter between them (125). MacDougall argues that filmmakers should treat their interaction with subjects as a legitimate part of inquiry, inviting them to contribute to the creation of the film, allowing their perspectives and cultural truths to shape the final narrative. The documentary film here, through the incorporation of testimonies with speakers seated to share their stories, allows their perspectives and truths to shape the narrative of the devotion in their town and in their personal lives, without it being told FOR them. The collaborative construction that MacDougall advocates for is demonstrated in the film. The passive point view or distant observation style that MacDougall warns against is not present.

The film very much so, likely due to the choice in production and direction teams, comes together to commemorate the 625th anniversary of the arrival of the Immaculate Conception devotion in the town of Castilleja de la Cuesta in a cohesive manner where all the elements of the film read as coming from roots in Sevilla. Religious processions, sacred images, traditional songs, and devotions cannot fully be understood through observation alone or writing alone as Margaret Mead explains in “Visual Anthropology in a Discipline of Words.”

MacDougall teaches that “Ethnographic film is film which endeavors to interpret the behavior of people of one culture to persons of another culture by using shots of people doing precisely what they would have been doing if the camera were not there (Goldschmidt 1972) (MacDougall 120).” He explains that when a filmmaker films in the natural voice not as a participant but as an invisible presence they must make themselves privy to human events without disturbing them, which is easy when the event they are filming attracts more attention than the camera (MacDougall 119). Even when the film was not interviewing but was recording the religious traditions, it could be argued that it was not as participatory, but it was not “othering.” Those shots seemed gave an impression that they were recorded from within, even though it was observing.

By relying heavily on the voices of people in the community, the documentary explains this Marian devotion through the perspectives of those who actively participate in and preserve these traditions. The film does not merely pass for including testimonies, but shapes interpretation and drives narrative by having them function as a driving force for understanding and learning. The exploration of the significance of the devotion within the town’s religious and cultural identity is one that clicks seamlessly across the speakers, testimonies, footage, and editing.