“Digital film platforms put an end to author discourse”

What do you think about the FICX award? Did you wait?

I didn’t expect it at all, it was a surprise. The first thing I thought was how extraordinary it was and of course how lucky I was, but then I thought: I must be too old to get an award for my career (laughs). But I think it’s great. As an Asturian, I’m very excited that the award comes from my own country. I am very grateful to the festival for thinking of me.

Have you participated in any broadcast? Because of work, it will be complicated, almost always outside.

It’s very complex, yes. I was giving some kind of “master class” on one occasion years ago, but normally when FICX is scheduled, it always happens during filming in the guild. The same thing happens to me in the summers, my family goes to Luarca – I did when I was a kid – and now I can’t because there’s usually a lot of shooting in the summer and I get caught at work. I usually go to Asturias on occasion, but usually not in the best weather conditions.

What have you been doing since the pandemic?

I’m currently shooting with Woody Allen in Paris and had to spend the pandemic locked up in Alicante, like everyone else, with my family and dogs. This is the last time I’ve been apart because I was shooting a long-running American drama last year and had to distance myself a little from everything. On longer projects like this, you stay in it for too long. And I don’t like it very much.

How do you see Woody Allen?

I? I see extraordinary, I always say. Great, really.

He received an award for his career, which began at the Spanish Theater in Madrid. Do you remember those beginnings?

My memories of those years are great, they were my learning time. I went there because I was a student at the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and there were professors directing national theaters at that time. I worked with Miguel Narros and Andrea d’Odorico, who recruited me as a wardrobe assistant at their company when I was very young. That’s when I really learned the business and met all the writers of the time you could imagine.

She has also worked as an actress and on television. What made you finally dedicate yourself to costume design?

I remember. When I entered the conservatory, I knew I loved theater, but I didn’t know exactly what it was because I loved acting, costumes, and even directing. And it was when I decided that what I wanted to do was focus on costumes and cinematography, my first professional film experience, when I was working on a series with Manuel Gutiérrez Aragon (adaptation of “Don Quixote”). That work made me fall in love with that visual language.

What does that language provide?

Theater is like a continuum, and the costumes need to be mirrored in some way, just as the actors manage to reflect their voices. A different understanding of what design is. But the camera is like a little voyeur who can go from the toenail to the hat detail, and it’s a very different perspective on cinema that excites me.

With new platforms, you can watch TV series on your mobile phone. Is cinema always better on the big screen?

Of course. I just think it’s not cinema, eh (laughs). Platform serials are visual products for many reasons, which people call cinema but not cinema. One of them is the one that can be seen from midget cell phones. But the content on these platforms is highly commercial. Sometimes very good products are made, but most are products that look, if not cheap. This is a problem and it destroys the author and the author’s discourse. Cinemas cannot be made from offices, directors do not make movies. So the idea of ​​cinema ends when the author contributes to his vision of the world or whatever it is with his little film. Then you went to see the movie at the cinema and then went to comment with your friends. Everything that looks at the cinema, the reflection it provides, turns into products that look more like advertisements than cinema actually is. Uf, what stick did I just give (laughs).

Then we can finish with something nicer. What would be your favorite project and which movie would you recommend that you particularly care about the maintenance of the costumes?

The second question is easy: I can say almost anything about Federico Fellini. They are an absolute example of the locker room. He worked with designer Danilo Donati for a long time, he was and always will be a genius for this type of work. And mine, uh, I love them so much… Now that I’m with Woody, I used to say “Midnight in Paris” and “Grow by the Moonlight”. Also “The City of Z” by James Gray and “The other” by Amenábar. I have a particular interest in Cuerda’s book “The Language of the Butterflies”. It was a film I made with little means but with great enthusiasm and it turned out very well.