El escritor de un país sin librerías

The country of Equatorial Guinea is a very small island in the Atlantic ocean and the main character of this story is from Annobon, which he deemed "a very small rock in the middle of the sea".

When he was little, this island was a part of Spain. The children were obligated to speak in Spanish and to believe in God. The citizens of this island received the names of several Spanish cities, such as Sabadell, Valencia, Santander and Zamora as surnames. He got Ávila, and so was named Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel. Now, fifty years later, Equatorial Guinea gained its independence and named itself the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Nowadays, the country is under the government of one of the oldest dictators of the world. This has led it to be one of the most isolated countries on the African continent.

In 'El escritor de un país sin librerías' we dive into Equatorial Guinea at the hand of Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, one of the most translated authors of the country. Ávila Laurel had to take shelter in Spain in 2011 when he reported the dictatorship of Teodoro Obiang. Through his books we have the opportunity to discover a small place in Africa that still lives under the impact of two centuries of worldwide domination.

The documentary is written and directed by Marc Serena.