Intergenerational views on feminine microcosms took center stage this Saturday, the second day of the 69th Valladolid International Cinema Week, during which films with disparate tones and forms, which share a common concern, could be viewed. common to capture various realities around women. So, while ‘September says’, the debut behind the camera of actress Ariane Labed, focuses on the darkness of adolescence, another first album, in this case “Summer in December”, by the playwright Carolina África, explores in a touch of bittersweet comedy and outside the official competition the family ties and the affections of several generations of women. The last opportunities that old age offers are, on the other hand, the central axis of ‘My Favorite Dessert’, the fable delicately recounted by the Iranians Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, whileMexican Alonso Ruizpalacios talks about broken dreams by capitalism for migrants, men and women, in his fourth feature film, “The Kitchen”, reports Ical.
This Saturday, Ruizpalacios started the day very early with the Spanish premiere of “The Kitchen”, his fourth feature film, which plunges the viewer into the frenetic abyss of daily life in a busy New York restaurant, located next door from Times Square. Raúl Briones (who has won three Ariel Awards for best actor to his credit) and the American Rooney Mara (“Elle”, “Carol”) are the protagonists of this vibrant chronicle of a dehumanized world, fevered by capitalism, where the only thing that matters is money.
The director explained that “The Kitchen” was “loosely” inspired by “The Kitchen,” the play published by “angry young man” Arnold Wesker in 1957. The director discovered the text during his early years at London, where he had arrived to study theater and try to find his place in the world. During his studies, he earned his living by working in “a tourist trap”, an establishment of the Rainforest Café chain “not very Michelin starred”, he recalls today, and this story helped him to “ make the days more bearable.
It was at this time that he fell in love with the world of cuisines, the rhythm and the dramaturgy they contain. “These are very dramatic places and they also condense the migrant experience like few others. In big cities, they become meeting points for many nationalities,” he said in statements collected by Ical.
Since then, he has always dreamed of “talking about this Tower of Babel” which he experienced in the first person “and which the work represents so well”. “I thought it would be my first film, but it ended up being my fourth,” he noted. Regarding the choice of black and white in photography, a “somewhat commercially suicidal” decision, he assured that it was the result of an “instinct”: “I designed it in black and white. That’s how I saw the story and that’s how the characters spoke to me. “I wanted to erase the temporal specificity and black and white helps with that, because it allows you to frame the story in a kind of fable, and to go beyond realism, and I wanted this film to go beyond realism,” he explained.
Between the Gothic and the fable
Halfway between the Gothic genre and the mythological fable, actress Ariane Labed, muse of the controversial Yorgos Lanthimos In her first films, in “September Says”, her debut behind the camera, she gives face and physicality to “Sisters”, the second novel by the young British Daisy Johnson. The film delves into the darkness of adolescence with two completely opposite sisters, Julio and September, who live in their own world, isolated even from the lonely mother who tries to support them against all odds.
Labed tries with his camera to capture the invisible links that unite the two young women, who are strong despite their antagonistic personalities. September is domineering and reckless, sometimes cruel, while July is gentle and fearful, introverted, naive and complacent. The way in which they are carried out prevents them from knowing where one begins and the other ends, and a dramatic event occurring at the institute will force them to abandon their lives and settle in an isolated house next door. from the beach, where they can start. from scratch.
“When I discovered the book, I immediately fell in love with the characters. This is what pushed me to want to personify them. I was fascinated by the complexity of the relationship between these two sisters. I saw this as an opportunity to explore different types of families, in this case without a father, and I wanted to explore how to capture the youth of women and translate the poetic spirit of Daisy Johnson into something cinematic. I was very scared, but I decided to do it for the cinema. I don’t know where I got this courage from, but I hope to find it again. In the future,” he explained.
The way he found to connect with these characters was through children’s games, something he considers “key and liberating, which we lose when we reach adulthood.” “It is a tool that allows access to the psychological and which is very present in the entire debate on mental health that exists today,” he said.
A bittersweet family comedy
That life is built from coincidences and that chance knows it well the playwright Carolina África, who presented eleven years ago at the Cervantes Theater in Valladolid his work “Summer in December” (National Calderón de la Barca Prize 2012 and finalist for the Max awards in 2014). Last night, Friday, he returned to the same space to experience the world premiere of his first film, adapting this same story to the big screen and out of official competition for this edition. At her side this Saturday were a good part of the enormous cast of actresses who appear in the film: Carmen Machi, Bárbara Lennie, Victoria Luengo and Beatriz Grimaldos. All of them, as well as the absent Lola Cordón and Irene Escolar, spoke about the experience of filming this bittersweet comedy about affection and indelible family ties.
For Carmen Machi, the scenario “Summer in December” “is very engaging” because “it talks about life”.something very recognizable that captivates and seduces you. “As actresses we are all very rooted in theater and it’s fantastic when a performance goes to the cinema. In addition, when I discovered Carolina’s work, thanks to the actor from Valladolid Santi Martín, I loved her code, her language and her way of working. There’s something you want to take advantage of, and that leaves you almost done. She had all the ingredients in her favor, as well as alongside colleagues that I love and admire. “It was an excellent project,” he said.
Right to exist and dream
As a playful story about the seconds and we don’t know if the last opportunities, the Iranians Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, old acquaintances of Seminci, created ‘My Favorite Dessert’, their latest feature film, which also joined the official competition of the 69th edition. . Winner of the critics’ prize and the ecumenical jury prize at the Berlin Film Festival, the film carries a powerful charge of depth to demand the rights of women in Iran and against the stifling moral policing exercised by the State and by the citizens themselves .
