Presents the UA Film and Audiovisual Class documentary magpie, scarlet hunter next tuesday December 136:30 PM at Alicante City Venue (San Fernando, 40). Pedro Urraca Rendueles, a Francoist policeman, was linked to Gestapo operations and collaborated with the Vichy regime. He oversaw a repression operation aimed at dissolving the main authority of the Second Republic in exile. The event will feature the interventions of the director Pedro de Echave, the screenwriter and assistant director of the documentary, together with the producer Pablo Azorín and Loreto Urraca, the hero’s granddaughter. The evening will be presented by UA professor Juan Antonio Ríos Carratalá.
Urraca played a pivotal role in the arrest of Catalan President Lluís Companys while Companys was in French exile in 1940. The documentary magpie, scarlet hunter (2022) presents this figure from the critical perspective of his son and granddaughter, who have distanced themselves from their heritage. Through a fast-paced, meticulously documented historical narrative, the film also examines the difficult journey faced by his descendants as they come to terms with this legacy.
summary
Pedro Urraca Rendueles, a Francoist police figure, acted as an agent for the Gestapo and a collaborator with the Vichy regime. He built a substantial financial fortune while directing the persecution of a large number of Spanish exiles in occupied France.
His targets included high-ranking leaders of the Second Republic, notably Manuel Azaña and Lluís Companys. He nearly arrested Azaña in Montauban and handed Companys over to Spain, while other victims included former minister Joan Peiró and socialist journalists Julian Zugazagoitia and Francisco Cruz Salido. In Urraca’s own words, these were the individuals who carried defeat around the world and were promptly arrested, handed over to Francoist authorities, tried, and executed.
By aiding the deportation and persecution of Jews fleeing Nazism, Urraca amassed wealth that continued to shield him after the war. He found refuge in Spain and resumed police duties following Franco’s death, benefiting from protection offered by the regime.
magpie. red hunter, portrait of a sinister and ambitious character who was willing to perform the dirtiest tasks for the most brutal dictatorships of the twentieth century. The film also serves as a chronicle of a haunted legacy through the lens of Loreto Urraca, his granddaughter. She speaks to dignity and humility, condemning the actions of a grandfather she rejects and ultimately distances herself from his influence.