For a few weeks now, Vigo has been plunged into a regression to the early 2000s. Posters announcing concerts by bands from that time and others that say “Never again” are preparing the surroundings of the Olympic city to be the scene of the last film production of Carla Simon. Under the title of ‘Pilgrimage’, The film responds to a very particular – and personal – point of view: that of the director herself, Catalan but of Galician origin, and his journey of discovery through the city of olive trees where his parents lived. It is also the first acting work in a feature film undertaken by its two young protagonists, Llucia Garcia And Michael Robles – Marina and Nuno respectively in the film –, accompanied by other well-known faces, such as Janet Novás (“O Corno”) or Tristán Ulloa (“Narcos”, “Fariña”, “Abre los ojos”).
The film has been shot since the beginning of August in Vigo and other towns in the province of Pontevedra and, with it, the director Carla Simón, completes a trilogy of feature films –which began with “Estiu 1993”, with which he won the 2018 Goya for best new director, and continued with “Alcarràs”, which earned him the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2022– in which he explores family relationships, this time inspired by the origins of his paternal biological family.
The film follows Marina, who goes to Vigo to meet her biological father’s family,died of AIDS, like his mother. The young woman tries to construct a coherent story from conversations with her uncles and grandparents, but, out of shame over the couple’s drug conflicts, they close themselves off from her and she can’t tell him anything clearly. Instead, the teenage summer romance she has with her cousin, Nuno, allows her to reimagine her parents’ romance. “We’re shooting the film in these places where my family lived their love story,” the filmmaker told the media on Thursday. He did so from the set itself, where A scene that takes place twenty years ago was recorded that afternoon, at the Festas do Carme in 2004.
Director Carla Simón (center) gives instructions to her team on Thursday
The tests were repeated several times. With the Vigo Pelepau group in charge of the music, the director directed the casting of professionals from the representation of a traditional dance who gradually added participants, all showing amazing coordination. Well, almost all of them. Marina and Nuno, who arrived a little later, tried to keep up without much success. Carefree and focused on having a good time more than anything else, they ended the scene by throwing in the towel, holding hands and escaping from the dance area.
During the whole time that the rehearsals lasted, one could feel an atmosphere punctuated by the nervousness and tension typical of the processes in which a large team works so that everything goes well; but, more than anything, There was a family atmosphere. Especially between the filmmaker and her two main actors, whom she called periodically to give them instructions. With this film, they both take their first steps in the world of cinema and therefore also learn from Simón.
The portfolio of Mitch Robles includes his participation in several short films and the TVE series “Hit”, butLlucía García is a first-time actress. “He goes on a trip. She is 18 years old, we found her on the street, when she was returning from an excursion, and we arrested her; She came to do the casting and she is great. For her, it has been an experience (…). She is not someone who was already focused on that, she wants to study philosophy. It is an adventure for her, and the truth is that it is a very beautiful process. And with the rest of the casting too,” said the director.
The film follows Marina, who travels to Vigo to meet the family of her biological father, who died of AIDS, like her mother.
A look into the past
The story of “Romería” is, in a way, that of the filmmaker, in the present, and that of her parents, in the past. Ten years ago, Carla Simón decided to discover the life they led in Vigo. And since then, he has been going back and forth through the city, camera in hand, trying to reveal it.
Simón had discovered that his mother ran a comic book store in the city through some letters she wrote to her relatives, in which she indicated this address to receive their replies. “Always, when they tell you stories,There is a certain line between what is true and what is not, because stories are very subjective. Everyone has their own version and normally they don’t coincide,” but there are times when “suddenly you discover the other side of the story” and that corroborates him. Curiously, he says, this happened during filming, when a woman approached and revealed herself to be the daughter of a woman who had been a friend of his grandmother and who she herself had spoken to him about before. “Beyond what we film in the movie, it’s good that things like this happen,” he said.
The Casco Vello speech
The occasion did not go unnoticed by the residents and visitors of the olive city who were walking nearby. At the time of recording, the flow of passers-by was hindered and The curious gathered around the separation barriers which demarcated the whole, but also on the neighboring terraces, to see what they could of the filming. “What are they doing here?” was heard from time to time. “A film,” someone always replied. A lady was interested in the title and, after reading it, took a look at the musicians, the lights, the festive banners and the drinks counters on the set. And he decided: “‘Pilgrimage’… well, you couldn’t call it anything else.” The same word that, for the filmmaker, evokes a mystical journey, like the one she herself experienced and the one Marina is experiencing today.
