THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS

Jacinta and Dolores are two women that spend their days together and take their dark humor out for strolls by making jokes about getting how they would get rid of their husbands.

Jacinta and Dolores are two Sunday flea-market workers at the famous Rastro in Madrid. One sells art figures and the other has a chicken rotisserie stall. The pair spend their days together and take their dark humor out for strolls by making jokes about getting how they would get rid of their husbands.

It has always been known that between joke-telling, some truth tends to appear. On New Year's Eve - taking advantage of the commotion and the euphoria - it seems something quite special is about to go down at both of their houses, but there is something that our two friends are not counting on - the press and two ambitious local policemen who have been waiting for a case like this.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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1_Jacinta. Jacinta is married to Duncan, a stuttering Englishman with a very attractive salary. It was a shameless sham of a marriage, and everyone knew it, but the anti-ageing creams and the glittering gold of her jewellery were reward enough for her to withstand the comments. Over the years, Jacinta and Dolores (her lifelong neighbour) had developed an intense relationship across their shared landing. It's almost as if they've created a marriage in parallel to that with their husbands. It was by chance that black humour had found its place on that top floor, as they spent hours joking about how they would get rid of their useless spouses. Until that moment, they had managed to avoid the gaze of misfortune that always manages to surprise. However, they were not unaware of it – they knew of the curse that permeated the walls of the Torres Blancas building, and they knew that all they had to do was succumb to bad luck for everything to be thrown into misfortune. It's a well-known fact that there is an element of truth in every joke, and among all these cartoonish murder stories, the simplicity of poisoning their husbands hung in the background of conversations that increasingly moved away from mere speculation, becoming a veritable plan of action.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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2_Dolores. Dolores is fed up with her husband, who shoves coins into slot machines with the same force as water flowing into a waterfall. He is a drinker, a smoker, and – ultimately – a scrounger. But, of course, this was not always the case. When Dolores met Manolo, he was a brilliant and promising engineer, working on the "Torres Blancas" project before he had even had time to frame his degree. Meanwhile, she had inherited a typical chicken rotisserie from her parents. 'El Pollo Loco' was one of those places in the heart of El Rastro where strangers would gather on Sundays, talking to one another while they waited for their chicken and roast potatoes, shouting: 'With plenty of Dolores sauce!' El Rastro gave Dolores life, and she walked constantly from stall to stall – organising soirées. Jacinta had proclaimed herself the co-director of the stall Duncan also ran at El Rastro, and it was quite common to see them leaving the neighbourhood in Dolores' Seat Panda, wild laughter mixing with the stuttering sound of the engine as they talked about their husbands. One day, with their husbands absent, Dolores told Jacinta the great plan she had hatched. Her husband regularly made sculptures with the bones of their stews, and that same inspiration that had made him an artist was now to become his executioner. They would kill him, and then scatter the evidence of their crime: making sculptures and selling them on El Rastro.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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3_Amparo. Amparo left her husband's corpse hidden in Peñíscola (in the province of Castellón) some time ago, among the daisies of her garden. As a result, she was forced to flee to Madrid in search of somewhere to take refuge, having discovered that the stench of her husband's body had betrayed her to the neighbours. The litres of Varón Dandy she had poured out before burying him had lost their intensity, and before the smell of death could surpass that of the cologne, Amparo had hopped onto a bus with a false identity, slipping into the crowds of pensioners enjoying a day trip to Castellón. Her cousin lives in Madrid, and under the supposed pretext of getting away for a break, Amparo has asked her to take her in for a few days. She had spent about two weeks there before, one day – fleeing from the police in paranoia – she suddenly burst into a doorway and discovered an advert for a job vacancy as the building's caretaker. Amparo decided that it was the perfect disguise: a Madrid caretaker, hidden in that great fortress overflowing with people, where no one would ever go looking for a criminal. That great fortress is, of course, Torres Blancas. Despite being an energetic person, and much more proactive than what they ask for in job offers, her situation does not allow her to have too much fun or expose herself. As a result, since she took the job, she has spent her days wondering about the lives of her neighbours, and fostering a newly-developed OCD habit of shining doorknobs. Of course, she knows that this is the price she has to pay to stay safe. But everything is changing: Amparo has begun to feel restless and has seen Dolores and Jacinta carrying some strange packages to the roof of the building. Her curiosity leads her to get closer and closer to the women, to whom her unnatural and nervous attitude is beginning to give her away. What they do not yet know is that they are all united by the same crime, which will ultimately lead them to create a lifelong team. Not unlike a coven, when all is said and done.

© Manuela Lorente - 4_Staircase inside the building of “Torres Blancas”.
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4_Staircase inside the building of “Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - 5_Feet of Dolores. - Are you crazy !? - Who knows ... madness is established by comparison And who dictates the norm?
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5_Feet of Dolores. - Are you crazy !? - Who knows ... madness is established by comparison And who dictates the norm?

© Manuela Lorente - 6_”Torres Blancas” building entrance. - Well I'll go to mass tomorrow. At least he catches us confessed. Are you coming?
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6_”Torres Blancas” building entrance. - Well I'll go to mass tomorrow. At least he catches us confessed. Are you coming?

© Manuela Lorente - 7_Neighborhood church interior.
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7_Neighborhood church interior.

© Manuela Lorente - 8_Neighborhood church interior.
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8_Neighborhood church interior.

© Manuela Lorente - 9_Building portal of “Torres Blancas”.
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9_Building portal of “Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - 10_Exterior at night under “Torres Blancas” building. - They don't name us in the will... - What are we going to do?
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10_Exterior at night under “Torres Blancas” building. - They don't name us in the will... - What are we going to do?

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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11_Interior of "Torres Blancas” - I will not be able ... I feel that I will not be able, at least today ... - It must be today. You know it like I do, or we never will. In an hour it will all be over!

© Manuela Lorente - 12_Interior of "Torres Blancas”.
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12_Interior of "Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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13_Building of “Torres Blancas”. - What did he tell you? - What are you going to tell me! Well, all I had to do was tell me something!

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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14_Husband Sculptures made with the bones of the stew. - Being late adds a touch of elegance. - Achieving it entails great suffering...

© Manuela Lorente - 15_Kitchen of "Torres Blancas”.
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15_Kitchen of "Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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16_New Year's Eve dinner. - Do you want me to find you a flirt after this? I know many who would fall at your feet, their brains would darken and they would foam at the mouth.

© Manuela Lorente - 17_Interior of "Torres Blancas”.
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17_Interior of "Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - 18_Pool of "Torres Blancas”.
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18_Pool of "Torres Blancas”.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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19_Pedro Pedro has just joined the police force. Despite being older than his patrol partner, he is the rookie. And, like every novice, he has great ambitions and values that have not yet been tainted by age and power: two incompatible factors. The law is his bible, the state his father. He would be incapable of betraying them, and although he is usually in agreement with his partner's actions, from time to time he disagrees with his ways and attitudes, causing him to develop a certain paranoia – believing that Emilio, his partner, is conspiring again him and his abilities within the force. At that time, the crimes of Torres Blancas had already been the subject of special episodes of TV investigation programmes, and it was in this case that Pedro saw his chance to shine as a promising young officer.

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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20_Emilio Emilio has not been in the force for much longer. It has barely been three years, and his progress has been less than admirable. His morals have already become tainted, and he's fed up with everything he's been through. He's always finding himself in the most difficult places. This has also given him a certain wiliness, allowing him to find the right shortcuts – as dangerous as they may be. Yet, Emilio's ambitions are no different to Pedro's: glory and respect within the force. Well, that and making the front page as a national hero. He is also keen to investigate the Torres Blancas crime, and is willing to do anything – no matter what it takes. As a result, this begins to shake the foundations of his partner's professional ethics. They know that by respecting regulations, they will get nowhere, and start to think that the only way forward is through corruption (believing that later, as heroes, they will be forgiven). But what Emilio and Pedro would never have imagined, is that there could be murderers in front of them every Sunday, plucking chickens and selling sculptures of stew bones.

© Manuela Lorente - 21_Police control.
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21_Police control.

© Manuela Lorente - 22_Neighborhood neighbor. - They say you killed them ... - Who says? - That gives the most!
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22_Neighborhood neighbor. - They say you killed them ... - Who says? - That gives the most!

© Manuela Lorente - 23_Neighborhood bar.
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23_Neighborhood bar.

© Manuela Lorente - 24_Registration at the flea-market. - Did your husband have enemies? - I guess the poor guy was not a nice person...
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24_Registration at the flea-market. - Did your husband have enemies? - I guess the poor guy was not a nice person...

© Manuela Lorente - Image from the THE CRIMES OF TORRES BLANCAS photography project
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25_ Chicken rotisserie "El Pollo Loco”. - I don't eat fish, fish pee in the water ... - Children too! - I don't eat children.

© Manuela Lorente - 26_Stall at the flea-market. - It's about time everyone stopped tongue-lashing! Because that's a crime too!
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26_Stall at the flea-market. - It's about time everyone stopped tongue-lashing! Because that's a crime too!

© Manuela Lorente - 27_Police control.
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27_Police control.

© Manuela Lorente - 28_Stall at the flea-market.
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28_Stall at the flea-market.

© Manuela Lorente - 29_Snails.
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29_Snails.

© Manuela Lorente - 30_Stall at the flea-market. - Are you going to call the police? - I don't like the police.
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30_Stall at the flea-market. - Are you going to call the police? - I don't like the police.

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