Coven

Basque Country, 1609. The men of the village are at sea. Six young women left behind are caught singing and dancing in the woods at night and accused of witchcraft. The judge Rostegui, sent by the king to clear the region of the devil, conducts the interrogation. He wants one thing: tell me how the sabbath is performed. That is the idea. One of the girls, Ana, starts inventing the story her interrogator wants to hear. To buy another night she keeps extending it, and the more he listens the more he gives away his own desire. The crime is produced in the interrogation room, inside the interrogator's head. Pablo Aguero directed and co-wrote with Katell Guillou. Amaia Aberasturi plays Ana and Alex Brendemuhl plays Rostegui. It took nine nominations at the 35th Goya Awards and won five. The story rests on a real event: the Basque witch hunt of 1609 was one of the largest such proceedings in Europe. Who it is for: anyone who likes historical drama and films built on interrogation. Who it is not for: anyone expecting horror. Nothing supernatural happens, almost all of it takes place in one room, and the dance at the end will strike some viewers as too symbolic.