Director Pablo Berger Debuts an Animated Love Letter to New York
Pablo Berger has long embraced risk in his filmmaking, transitioning from the 1970s tragicomedy Torremolinos 73 to a silent, black-and-white adaptation of a children’s tale, Snow White, and then to the grotesque Abracadabra. Now, for the first time, he ventures into animation to tell the emotional story of a dog and an android in 1980s New York.
Robot Dreams, adapted from Sara Varon’s graphic novel of the same name, speaks with warmth and clarity about the search for a soulmate and the resilience required when companionship slips away. The film blends physical comedy, a bustling city soundscape, and a visual approach that favors emotional clarity over dialogue, allowing feelings to surface naturally. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, drawing attention for its quiet, expressive storytelling.
People often wonder why a live-action director would switch to animation. This project presented such a pivot as Berger describes the discovery of Varon’s dialogue-free work nearly ten years ago. He recalls how the absence of spoken lines intrigued him, and how rereading the comic years later reinforced that impression. He has always enjoyed animation as a viewer, and he believes some of the best contemporary cinema comes from animated storytelling.
Robot Dreams aligns with Berger’s ongoing artistic impulse to surprise himself with each new project. He likens his films to a circus act on a tightrope, where every project pushes into uncharted territory. With Robot Dreams, he marks a new phase in his career, describing his Iberian trilogy as Torremolinos 73, Snow White, and Abracadabra, and acknowledging that the American film is a personal love letter to New York, crafted with Spanish sensibilities.
Regarding the shift to a different format, Berger notes that animation and live action share more common ground than expected. The larger difference lies in production timelines: a live-action shoot takes weeks, while animation can span years. Yet the extended process is rewarding, as animation narrows the distance between the imagined film and its realization, making the dream feel closer to the final work.
Berger’s time in New York over the past decade clearly influences Robot Dreams. The city is not just a backdrop but a reservoir of memories—film school, a love story that ended, seasons of loneliness, a later reunion, and a new marriage. The film reads as a deeply personal piece rooted in those experiences.
Many of Berger’s films lean into the past because childhood and youth shape his sensibilities. The stories reflect the cartoons he loved as a child and his early experiences in the music world. He explains that the director he is is the result of the child he once was, a simple but persistent idea he stands by.
Robot Dreams is Berger’s second feature without dialogue, following Snow White. He explains that cinema is a narrative built through visuals, augmented by music and sound. While some directors, like Tarantino, prize sharp dialogue as spectacle, he believes that quieter exchanges invite the audience to participate more fully in the storytelling. Born into a family with a deep musical influence, Berger values music’s power to evoke intense emotion and recalls a long-held dream of participating in Eurovision rather than Cannes alone.
In conversation, Berger reflects on how the absence of dialogue shapes the film’s emotional landscape. He emphasizes that the story relies on visual storytelling and music to convey mood, feeling, and connection, inviting viewers to complete the narrative with their own interpretations and memories.
References to his New York years remain central throughout Robot Dreams. The film channels personal scenes of companionship, longing, and resilience, using animation to translate those intimate moments into a language accessible to audiences across North America. The result is a cinematic statement that pairs universal themes with a distinctly urban, contemporary sensibility.
In the end, Robot Dreams stands as a bold bridge between Berger’s European roots and an American setting, a project that embraces silence as a powerful, expressive tool and invites audiences to listen to what lies between the lines, between the beats of the city’s pulse, and between the tones of a shared human longing.
Related posts:
Robot Dreams and the Madrid-based storyboard artist: Maca Gil Goya Awards: Snow Society Dominates with 12 Wins and Bayona’s Historic Sweep Robot Dreams: A North American Spotlight on a Spanish Animated Triumph Goya Awards Nominees and Highlights (Rewritten) Berger’s Robot Dreams: A Stopgap Between Art and Accessibility in Modern Animation Goya Awards Nominees Spotlight: A Deep Dive Into 2024’s Best of Spanish Cinema Robot Dreams Triumphs at European Film Academy Awards Helmut Berger: A Bold Icon of European Cinema and his Lasting Legacy Timothée Chalamet Wonka and More: A Cropped Preview of This Season’s Premieres Robot Dreams: A Graphic Tale of Friendship and Film Edward Berger on All Quiet on the Western Front: From Inner Truth to Screen Realism Snow Cover Trends in Global Mountain Regions: 1982–2020