Paz Vega (Seville, 1976) remembers that his first experience on stage was directing a school play. “And since I said I wanted to be an actress, I also knew that I would end up directing,” she adds. Of course, he has already spent more than two decades playing all kinds of characters, and seven years passed from the time he conceived his first project until he managed to premiere it at Locarno. For her, it was worth it: receiving Rita left the unanimous impression that this is the first step in a promising career as a filmmaker.
The audience at the Huelva Ibero-American Cinema Festival appreciated this first film which reflects life in a Sevillian neighborhood in the mid-80s of the last century, from the point of view of a child, with domestic violence as a backdrop . “For me, it’s an apolitical story, there is no speech or Manichaeism of any kind,” he says. “I just wanted to highlight something that continues to happen, but is not usually seen from the perspective of the collateral victims. I paid attention to them, to the way they suffer, to the way they often do not understand what is happening around them, to the way they defend themselves with their means. I didn’t want to make a grotesque, obvious or great film. Rita is a story, it has this halo of children who half listen, who see but do not see and who, thanks to their imagination, manage to escape.
Unlike Alfred Hitchcock, who bragged about never working with children or dogs, Paz Vega not only had no problem working with either, she’s glad she did . “It’s been a beautiful journey to be able to work with these three children who are three angels. Sofía, the protagonist, has something, a very beautiful germ to be an actress; He knows this profession and instinctively knew how to assimilate it with great intelligence. These are three little ones who trusted me, shook my hand and let themselves go. But you have to choose carefully, work in advance, play a lot with them, see how they work together, what energy is created with them.
Play with emotion
And even if the subject addressed is unfortunately extremely topical, the choice of these years is more than deliberate. “I wanted to go back to the time when the divorce law was approved and see how many women still wonder why they don’t leave the house, why they put up with certain things… I thought about how much they feel alone. and the difficulties they face when they decide to take the plunge, or the conflicts that single mothers face. And I am also clear that machismo is a cross-cutting issue, one that does not include social classes, races or accents.”
His confidence that cinema can help raise awareness about this subject is absolute. “In films, we rely on emotion. When you tell something that reaches the viewer from a less rational and more emotional place, the reflection it generates within you is deeper. The insensitivity to press headlines has ended up being enormous, tragedies are reduced to a statistic, but when they are transformed into fiction, the impact is greater. It is not that cinema must have an educational function, for me it is above all entertainment, but if in addition we contribute to generating thought and making the person who sees it a better person, it is still more beautiful.”
The transition from acting to directing, even if it is nothing extraordinary, “could be even more common”, he defends. “As actors have a lot to express, we spend a lot of time being directed, adapting to everyone’s needs, until a moment comes when you ask yourself, why not pick up the camera and tell something my point of view?” However, when you take the plunge, “you see that the work, the involvement and the commitment are greater. “There’s a lot of work between the abstract idea and the finished film.”
Prejudices and surprises
When asked which directors, among all those for whom she has worked, had the most impact on her or influenced her the most, she avoids mentioning names. “To be honest, I don’t think of anyone in particular. They all influenced me, for better or worse, in the sense of also showing me what I didn’t want to do. But my way of leading has been very intuitive, based on passion, respect for the team and the desire that we all feel like we are rowing in the same boat at the same time. When you have to get up at 5 a.m. every day, if you think you’re going to suffer, that’s a terrible thing. I can’t allow that, we have to create a happy, family atmosphere, even if then you run into a thousand problems and everything is a continuous race against time. ”
On the other hand, the excellent welcome of Rita from viewers and critics alike was accompanied by a general feeling of surprise, as if few people expected that Paz Vega could achieve a product of such sensitivity and depth like this. “I noticed it, even in some interviews they said to me ‘I didn’t expect something like that’. And what did you expect? That means that certain prejudices weighed on me. He It’s sometimes hard to let go of it. People thought they knew me and this film showed that that’s not the case at all. Only my family and closest circle of friends know me and the people with them. who I work with The public creates their fantasy, so it has. was good and surprising to show another side of me.
A facet that no longer seems to have any turning back, as she herself admits: “I would like it not to be an anecdote, of course. I have another finished script and another idea that flashed through my mind that I’m already thinking about. I just hope the next projects don’t have to wait that long.
