WINNER! BEST LATINO/HISPANIC FILM, World Film Festival, Cannes, October 2022! Some 700 Spanish women arrived in Australia in the early 1960s supported by an informal agreement between the Francisco Franco regime (1939-1975) and the Australian government of the time, supported by the Catholic Church. This agreement became known as The Marta Plan. The women participating in this Plan arrived in Australia with the idea of working as domestic workers when the true intention of the Marta Plan was to balance the gender difference in the Spanish community. Australia's Immigration Department initially encouraged male Spanish migrants to nominate their unmarried sisters of marriageable age to come to Australia. In Spain, the plan was promoted in Churches and religious publications, mainly looking for young, single, Catholic women. The women were asked to sign a paper indicating that they would be working as domestic workers for two years, but the document had no legal validity. The first Marta Plan group arrived at Melbourne Airport on March 10, 1960. In facilitating the transition of newly arrived immigrants, the Catholic Church proved to be a crucial factor. Once in the country, the women found religion to be a comfort in an unknown nation. The women were assisted by various affiliated Catholic organisations, such as the International Catholic Migration Committee. The women of the Marta Plan were instrumental in creating the Spanish Club on Sydney's Liverpool Street. The club offered free English classes for newcomers, free Spanish classes for children of Spanish descent, movie nights, cultural activities, and on Saturdays, ballroom dancing, and later, a youth club. The founding of the Spanish Club of Sydney in 1962, which closed in November 2013, was a major focal point for Spanish social life and its community during this period. The film contains some of the stories of these women as well as documentation and archive material. Directed by Natalia Ortiz Ceberio and Javier Castro Produced by Natalia Ortiz Ceberio (Australia) and Concha Diaz (Spain) Photography – Enrique Andres (Australia), Juan Carlos Arevalo Music – Jeansy Auz Editor – Renato Sanjuan Produced with support of RTVE and Desenfoque Producciones (Spain) and Destino Films, SCHAA, and the University of New South Wales (Australia).
