Málaga Talent-La Opinión de Málaga from the Prensa Ibérica group is a very special award: it is not a tribute to a practically completed career, but rather a tribute to a career that still has carats, even though it has more carats. there is so much to do How do you get it?
I’m very happy because when you start an award like this, which is not for a particular movie, it’s not very given and I feel like it. I also like the fact that Malaga Festival and I have a very nice relationship where they always support my projects.
Malaga is one of the festivals most characterized by supporting independent filmmakers with a distinctive voice. Pilar Palomero, Elena Trapé, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa and before that Laura Mañá and Gracia Querejeta won the main prize of the competition, Biznaga de Oro. Have you noticed the special sensitivity of the competition with the directors?
It could be. The truth is that when we won with ‘Summer 1993’ I wasn’t aware of it as Malaga was so supportive of the start of the races, a festival where many first films win. A huge celebration of Spanish cinema at a time of year when the life of films begins, a way that some of the films made here are starting to gain a lot of visibility. And the Festival is very helpful so that the public can take them into account.
This weekend, with the Goya Awards, let’s say the life cycle of ‘Alcarràs’ comes to an end after a busy promotional year, international premieres, Oscar race… Are you feeling a little sad?
It’s a pity, no, because everything is so busy… We’ve had ups and downs for a year, traveling, promoting and I want to be able to turn the page and focus on new projects.
Beyond the autobiographical connotations of his films, he gets emotionally involved in his preparations. Does this immersion leave sequels, don’t you want to get away from your stories for a change?
I don’t know how to do it any other way and I like it that way. Every time I try to do something lighter, I fail, I don’t know how. It’s the way I relate to cinema, which goes hand in hand with my life. After each shot, I gain a lot less weight and have a major crisis that I need to recover from. [Risas]. But in the end it makes up for me because I really love what I do and I also grow personally with each project. Of course there are moments when you suffer, but there are also moments where I take a lot with me: for example, I took a whole family with me in ‘Alcarràs’.
What has cinema taught you?
Making movies is a way of being in the world, a way of living, it allows me to pay attention to things that I wouldn’t have otherwise paid attention to: being always on the alert for gestures, interactions between people, words… My ability to observe has increased thanks to storytelling. Making movies developed my sensitivity; Working in a team, collaborating, gives great value and makes you think about how someone relates to others. Also, the beauty of cinema is that you start a project and you never know how, it always takes you in different directions; You think you know how to do it, but in the end you realize you don’t. As in life.
After ‘Summer 1993’ and ‘Alcarràs’, which have clear themes and tones, can we say that we know director Carla Simón well, or are there concepts and ways she wants to explore that might surprise us?
I hope there is more to surprise [Risas]. In directors’ careers, it’s crucial that every project brings us something new, a challenge that we must learn to face. Along with what we are currently preparing, there is a whole part that I will explore for the first time, and there I have some ideas that are very different from what I am currently doing.
You’re talking about ‘Romería’, which will be your next feature film and close the trilogy of loss, belonging and memory that started with ‘The Summer of 93’ and ‘Alcarràs’, right?
Yes, ‘Romería’ is one of those projects. But I also talked to María Zamora. [su productora] other things that have nothing to do with my world, my family, my memory… There are things that I feel ready to tell after making these films.
He says that watching movies often to make movies and knowing the kinds of movies he wants to make helps him identify what excites him. What views were fundamental in your life?
Exploring the world of Italian Neorealism was very important, a movement I felt very close to: they worked with street people, they filmed their emotions very closely, they sought that truth… There are also two very different currents. directors that are very revealing for me: Lucrecia Martel and Claire Denis. Martel inspires me a lot with his scripts, the way his characters talk and the way he handles their voices; Denis, for his camera work, how he portrays and accompanies the emotions of his characters. It was very important for me to watch Mar Coll’s movie ‘3 days with the family’ to understand that my family can also be the subject of stories to be told.
Received the Golden Bear from the Berlinale, will be on the jury in its next edition; He represented Spain at the Oscars, received excellent reviews, swept through festivals… And he did all this with just two films. Is everything moving too fast?
I feel so lucky, but I gave my skin and my soul to make these two movies. A lot of people ask me if I feel too much pressure… I actually felt it between ‘Summer 93’ and ‘Alcarràs’ but I feel a certain liberation after what happened: we’re definitely with the next movie, it won’t win another Golden Bear [Risas]. In the end, the key is that you have to move on, one movie opens the door for you to make another movie, keep making movies, and then you feel like you’re exploring different ways beyond what’s in the movies.
I was also asking because this fast pace of constant touring and interviews somehow clashed with his very slow, very detailed cinema.
In cinema, time changes throughout the process: writing is solitary, filmmaking is collective, editing is again sincere, there are still many people around at promotion… If cinema were just promotions and festivals, it would be a creatively unsustainable conversation. After Malaga and Berlin in March, I no longer accept interviews or trips. I need to recapture the whole rhythm and be able to focus again. Also, since I became a mother this year, my concept of time has changed a lot, I value it more.
In his interviews, he does not avoid issues such as reconciliation and equivalence in the world of cinema. Other female directors could have answered candidly, “I wouldn’t ask a male director how he associates making movies with his fatherhood.” I have the feeling that you and I are suggesting that you bring the issue to the table for public reflection on these issues. Really?
If we are talking about these issues, it is because these issues have not been resolved yet, because they are under construction. For example, before I became a mother, I saw reconciliation from the outside and got a different impression from reality. And that’s because women experience it behind closed doors. So we have to keep talking about it. With my fellow directors we always say: «We’re talking about being a woman again…», yes, but after a few years the only way a new generation of directors won’t have to answer these questions. Now answer them ourselves. I just wanted to talk about my movies, but what we’ve been through [el auge de las películas dirigidas por mujeres] It has some historic repairs and you need to talk about it.
Will it change motherhood concerns, creative interests?
The emotional journey you go through as a mother is so monstrous that it will definitely change me. Beyond having feelings you don’t know, feeling new things… I really like talking about family. So far, I have had the experience of being part of a very big new generation family; When you have a child, you pass into the middle generation and the perspective of the family changes a lot.
His son Manel will also recognize his mother from his films. I think it will be something special for someone like you who lost her parents at 6 years old.
This is something I find very beautiful. My parents’ family memory is so lacking that I feel like the same thing shouldn’t happen to my son and he should know me very well from my movies.
One wonder: as a director, do you shoot Manel a lot?
It’s very important for me not to have that thing… let’s see: sometimes when it comes to children one gets overwhelmed by how quickly they change over time. I don’t want to find myself recording this for fear of running out of time, because there’s a beautiful light and I want to get that image. I’m trying to practice recording for pleasure.