At the movies with Spain’s first naked screening: ‘Everything helps to normalize nudity’

They have entered the room, left their bags on the armchair, undressed while chatting with the person next to them, and then sat down on a towel or sarong. With the naturalness of those who take off their clothes at home to put on their pyjamas or have a shower. Two Spanish cinemas — the Girona in Barcelona and the Lys in Valencia — on Sunday staged the first nudist film screenings in the country, with about 50 spectators in each auditorium. The majority were men. The origin of the initiative was the participation of a group of nudists belonging to the Valencian Naturist Association as extras in the film being shown, a Christmas thriller, entitled Tú no eres yo (You are not me), which was filmed in 2022 in Puig, Valencia, by directors Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romero. A screening scheduled at the Embajadores cinema in Madrid was cancelled.

“Nudism is taking off more than just your clothes; you take off the shame and the layers and impositions that weigh you down,” said Ángela, already naked before the screening, which she attended with her partner. They are veterans in nudism and soon they will travel to Mexico for a trekking trip, one of the most common pastimes of the group, in addition to going to the beach. At the exit to the cinema, Ángela described the film as “very cool, very suspenseful, and with some scares” beyond “having been without as many clothes as we wear in winter... the freedom it implies.”

Among those present in Valencia was Juan Ángel Manzano, a member of the naturist organization, an extra in the production and an ideologist of the initiative of the nudist screening. “Marisa Crespo needed people aged around 60 for a scene in which naked people perform a ritual. It is at the end of the film and the scene is important,” he said by phone, avoiding any spoilers. “It was spectacular to work with them and our naked presence also normalized the situation for the actors, who felt more comfortable naked,” he explained, adding that he has continued to act as an extra, although dressed. Manzano told the co-director “that it would be really cool to see the film naked. She took it very well, talked to the distributors, and here we are.” At the end of the show, he was very satisfied: “Very good, a great experience, defintely one to repeat.”

In Barcelona, members of the Catalan Naturism Club attended the screening. Segimon Rovira, vice-president of the organization, pointed out that as naturists “the idea is to be naked in natural areas: in the mountains, on beaches, but in winter we can’t do that and so we organize visits to exhibitions or museums... not that we promote going to the movies naked, but it is good to normalize nudity, and separate it from any sexual connotation.”

“It went very well, everyone was happy and comfortable in a naturalistic environment, everything helps to normalize [nudity] but we don’t want to force anything,” Rovira added cautiously, adding that activities like this “are also a way to maintain contact between members.”

Both Rovira and Manzano explained that for the premiere of a nudist cinema session they opted for “reduced” numbers of members and acquaintances. The president of the Valencian association, Patxi Esparza, frames the initiative as “a path towards other opportunities and normalizing nudism, as in other countries where cultural visits are normalized [...] We had attended the theater naked, but never the cinema.”

Tú no eres yo tells the story of Aitana who, after years of absence, returns to her parents’ house for Christmas to surprise them with her girlfriend Gabi and their adopted son. As soon as she arrives home, she discovers that her family has replaced her with a stranger her own age, who wears her clothes, sleeps in her bed, and is treated like a daughter. From there, Aitana attempts to understand what is going on inside the house, which leads the viewer to experience the tension felt by the protagonist.

After the Barcelona screening, one of the cinema managers exited in pursuit of the spectators with a sock in his hand that someone had forgotten.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition