Directors and writers: the winning combination of new fiction

The relationship between cinema and literature is not new, but it is no coincidence that so many suggestions from directors, adapted from the authors’ latest novels, come together and lead to an exciting conversation as well as being very successful. Limiting it to books originally written in Spanish and published in Spain, for example, ‘Rescue Distance’ (2021), a film by Claudia Llosa adapting Samanta Schweblin’s novel of the same name, was released late last year and most san sebastian festival It will host the premiere of the ‘Fácil’ series by Anna R. Costa, based on the book ‘Easy Reading’ by Cristina Morales.

According to Marisa Fernández Armenteros, producer of ‘Un amor’ with Sandra Hermida and Belén Atienza, the interest in these novels is partly due to the fact that they reflect long-spoken truths, often and without generalisation. little or nothing, a long time between:I don’t like to talk about things, I hate being imposed but it is true that there are some hidden and not traditionally hegemonic narratives found in books like ‘Un amor’”. Mesa’s novel deals, among other things, with female desire, motherhood (indirectly), the pressure of time, and the right to disappear.

Armenteros says he has read the book and He had a hunch it was for Coixet.: “I called Isabel on October 5th and she told me I was the third person to recommend her. He had read it in twenty-four hours. He called me on the 7th and She told me straight, let’s go for it. We knew it wasn’t an easy adaptation as Isabel and Sara are two very different authors, but we had to dare.” Was it important that the adaptor of ‘Un amor’ was a woman? “I don’t know if it mattered, but it’s not a coincidence. I’m flexible in that sense, the only thing that matters whoever does the adaptation is really curious about the story. I know a lot of people wanted to adapt Un amor and some of them were directors. But in this case, as a viewer, I was more interested in another woman’s perspective on the issues Sara brought up, such as desire and self-reinvention. Especially since I’m very curious as to why so many women buy this book so much. What happened that made us move and shake us like that? I think it’s because she explores desire, her lust, how it’s not lived the same way at different times in our lives. And from a woman’s point of view, desire is rarely talked about,” says Armenteros.

Fortunately there are no rules requires that books written by women be adapted by women directors. But the attraction of female filmmakers to new or relatively recent novels written by women that are not always based on reality or specific themes (many of these books are genres like horror or fantasy) is clear. Not all adaptation projects yield results: sometimes a book rights option expires before the film is financed. But what is mentioned in this article is already a fact or is on its way to becoming a reality. Adaptations of several books by Mariana Enríquez, for example, can be added to commented films and series.

He is waiting to reveal who will adapt his famous novel ‘Nuestra parte de noche’. three more ongoing projects. British Prano Bailey-Bond (Censorship) will bring the story ‘What We Lost in the Fire’ from his book of the same name to the cinema. Argentinian Laura Casabé (‘The Spinners’) is working on ‘La virgen de la tosquera’, based on two stories from her book ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’. Mexican Michelle Garza Cervera (‘Huesera’) is preparing an adaptation of Enríquez’s story ‘That summer is in the dark’. Another important book that will come to the screen is Fernanda Melchor’s “Hurricane Season”, which Mexican director Elisa Miller is working on on the Netflix adaptation.