María Esteve, before the premiere of the documentary about her mother: “For me it has been very exciting to discover things that as a daughter you don’t know”

After its premiere last month at the Malaga Festival, starting May 10 the angelic voice of Pepa Flores singing Tombola will resonate again in cinemas throughout Spain. That day lands on the big screen Marisol, call me Pepaa documentary directed by Blanca Torres which brings us closer to the trajectory and evolution of the prodigy who fell in love not only with Spain during the Franco era and the beginnings of democracy, but with the entire world, as her voice reached Japan, Angola, the United States and Argentina.

The film, in which Pepa herself did not want to participate – being consistent with the firm decision she made in 1985 to move away from the media spotlight – will feature the testimony of her sister. Vicky FloresOf the singer the endof Fernando Méndez-Leite, Enrique Cerezo or the dancer Cristina Hoyosas well as personal friends of Pepa.

All of them, supported by invaluable graphic documentation, will recreate the career of a little girl who at only 11 years old was discovered by Franco and elevated during the dictatorship as an icon, transformed into the ‘prodigy’ of cinema, but who ended up revealing herself to the world in which he lived full of abuse and injustice, and to which he stood up by positioning himself in politics on the communist side, empowering himself and freeing himself from an image that had been sexualized, especially when, without his consent, his nude was the first to appear in the cover of Interview.

“I am aware that they have made the documentary with a lot of love and above all they have been honest, which is a lot,” said his daughter. Maria Esteve this Tuesday, April 2, when he attended the presentation of the El Langui short film Trying. Furthermore, although she did not want to talk about her mother’s impressions of the film, she did say: “She feels fine and is happy because they have made a good documentary.”

Furthermore, María highlighted: “I found it very curious to see and for me it has been very exciting because there were many images, data and interviews that I had never seen or heard before. And it has been very exciting for me, and discovering things that as a daughter you don’t know because the one I see every day is my mother.

Whether or not Pepa Flores goes to the cinema to see the film that reviews her life and career is something that we will surely not know, since at 76 years old she leads a very discreet life in her native Malaga, now if possible more collected than ever since Last September, his partner died -due to a heart attack- Massimo Stecchiniwith whom she had a 35-year relationship, and whose loss has left her devastated.

María Esteve will not be able to take it to the cinema either, because just in May she is leaving for China to premiere the show. Carmen of Antonio Gades’ ballet, since she has remained fully dedicated to her father’s foundation for twenty years. Luckily Pepa has, in addition to María, the unconditional support of her other two daughters, Tamara y Celia. And with an audience that, although they no longer prefer to watch from a stage, is still in love with that angelic voice that for a time gave us the happy heart.