Director Jose Alayón Unpacks San Sebastián New Directors Title ‘Dance of the Living’

There’s a touching scene in Jose Alayón’s “Dance of the Living,” which competes at San Sebastián’s New Directors, where one Canary Island wrestler has just won a bout, charging his opponent and upending him onto the ground. Both get up and the winner raises the arm of the loser and applauds him briefly in a sign of respect.

The loser is Miguel Bethancourt, the male lead in “Dance in the Living,” once, one senses, a champion on Canary Island Fuenteventura’s wrestling scene.

In another scene, wrestlers sit at a bar, celebrating Miguel’s birthday, cracking jokes, with the comfortable familiarity of people who feel accepted as part of their world.

When Miguel drives home with daughter Mariana, they pass walls of black rock, littered with shale, and then come into sight of a mountain rearing in the background which still catches the full force of the sun,…