Biopic planned of the Malaga woman who disguised herself as a man to play football

His grandmother from Malaga used to tell him that, when she was a child, she had a friend who played football. So, when he heard the story of football player Nita Carmona, nicknamed 'Veleta', from Malaga (1908-1940), he couldn't help but think of the young woman he was told about at home.

His grandmother was no longer there to clear up his doubts, but filmmaker Paco Torres became interested in the character and only needed to read the first lines given to him by the player's biographer, Jesús Hurtado, to be captivated by the "fascinating" life of the first female footballer who, to fulfil her dream of kicking that ball, pretended to be a man and, to top it all off, scored a goal for history and her time.

'Veleta' will be the title of this biopic, which transcends the world of football to become a drama about a woman confronted with destiny, machismo and reprisals. Filming is scheduled to arrive in Malaga between the end of this year and the beginning of next.

"It's a universal story because we're actually talking about the world's first female footballer, as there are no records of anything similar, or of female players, until around the 1940s," director Paco Torres tells SUR. He has already been scouting the childhood and professional career of the player from Gimnástica Trinitaria, Sporting Club de Málaga and Vélez Club de Fútbol.

After working on the script for two years, Veleta's story has won over professional football itself, which, through Laliga Studios, a company founded by the multinational Banijay Iberia and Laliga, is co-producing this film together with Andalusian company Blend Studios and M Content. It also comes with the support of Canal Sur and the Junta's regional ministry of culture, which has granted it 183,000 euros of its almost four million-euro budget.

'Veleta' is set in women's football, a field almost unexplored by Spanish cinema except for the forgettable 'Las ibéricas F.C.' (1971), a paradigm of the macho mentality of the late Franco era. The World Cup success of the Spanish players in 2023 has also made the big screen turn its attention to the playing field since, together with the project by Paco Torres about the Malaga player Nita Carmona, he has just wrapped up filming of 'Pioneras', about the first women's national football team in Spain, which also has local ties since its director is Marta Díaz de Lope from Ronda. "We are looking at a story from a century ago, but one that is very current, as demonstrated last year when Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso and brought the excesses in football back into the limelight. Veleta experienced all of this firsthand and faced reprisals," says Torres, who has also chaired the Andalusian filmmakers' association (Cina) since early April.

"If you were to push me, I'd even say that it is not a film about football," says the director of this legendary story that appeals to the emotions and which he defines as the "Spanish 'Cinema Paradiso'".

"It's a film that makes you fall in love with the main character and cry because it tells of the transition from 17 to 29 years old, from a girl to a woman, of gender inequality and injustice. People will identify with it because that fight for equality is still relevant today, although those were terrible years for that girl who insisted on playing football when everyone, even her family, refused to let her," says Torres, summing up the odyssey of a woman who endured all kinds of humiliation and even prison, making this a tale of "survival and courage".

While the details of the financing are still to be finalised, the film will have a "practically Andalusian" crew and shooting is planned in Vélez and other locations around the province that will serve as Malaga city locations and the Capuchinos district where Nita Carmona grew up "since the city has changed a lot," says the director of 'Veleta'.

The film's title is the nickname of the player that "Father Francisco Miguez, the first coach of Sporting de Málaga, gave her when he met her and saw that she changed very quickly to become a man."

In addition to the support of the world of football and a multinational company like Banijay, 'coach' Paco Torres is pleased to have on his production team Amaya Muruzábal, creator of the adaptation of the series 'Reina roja' (Red Queen), and the support of the Junta de Andalucía, after noting a change in regional policies to promote audiovisual media.

"Aid has doubled this year, from three to six million euros, something unprecedented because it had been frozen for two decades," said this representative for Cina.