Interview: Miguel Llansó

Photo taken from the Lanzadera Films website

    This is the last of the interviews that I conducted at D'A Festival in Barcelona back at the end of April. It was by far the longest of the three interviews I did there, which is why it's taken a bit longer to materialise - as I've said previously, learning to translate and simultaneously transcribe audio has been a bit of a sharp learning curve (I'm going to investigate whether there is such a thing as a phonetic Spanish dictionary) and it definitely gives my brain a workout - but given that I didn't have the time to do it when I first returned home, it made sense to hang on to the interview until Crumbs was screening somewhere in the UK. It is showing at the Hackney Picturehouse as part of the East End Film Festival tomorrow. Crumbs remains my favourite film of the year so far - I definitely recommend seeing it if you're in the area.
     In terms of the interview, the length means that it has been split into two parts. Part 1 went up today and I'll add an additional link to this post when the 2nd part is online:

• Subverting old tales from the future, part 1
• Subverting old tales from the future, part 2

(Im)Possible Futures: Sueñan los androides, El arca de Noé, and Crumbs

The (Im)Possible Futures strand of the D'A Festival included six features and nine shorts. I am going to write something about the theme - I went to the festival's roundtable discussion on the subject - and the films as a collection, but in essence what they represent is 'low voltage' (or realist) sci-fi showing futures made plausible by their connections to our current realities. I'll be reviewing some of the shorts over the next few days, but these are my reviews of the three Spanish features in the section:

• Sueñan los androides / Androids Dream (Ion de Sosa, 2014) - an experimental and dream-like take on Benidorm in 2052. My review is here. I interviewed Ion de Sosa and co-writer Chema García Ibarra (director of Uranes, which was part of last year's Un impulso colectivo strand) in Barcelona, so that interview should also appear later in the week (depending on how long it takes me to transcribe/translate Spanish).
• El arca de Noé / Noah's Ark (Adán Aliaga and David Valero, 2014) - a sweet-natured comedy on inter-dimensional travel as a possible escape route from the economic crisis. My review is here.
• Crumbs (Miguel Llansó, 2015) - a surreal quest across the epic Ethiopian landscape in search of Father Christmas and answers relating to a spaceship. It was my favourite film of the festival and my review is here. I also interviewed Miguel Llansó at the festival, and that should likewise appear later in the week (my transcribing/translation skills permitting).

I will create a separate post with links to the reviews of the short films once I've started writing them, and the same for the interviews. In the meantime, Eye for Film is now collating all of my coverage of D'A Festival on one page - here.

Five films I want to see at D'A Festival

Crumbs

I thought I'd highlight a film from each of the five days that I'll be in Barcelona - not all of the films are Spanish, but that's a reflection of what I'll be watching. The details here are deliberately scant because I avoid reading too much about films before seeing them.

Monday 27th: A Misteriosa Morte de Pérola (Guto Parente, 2015)

I am also keen on catching El incendio (Juan Schnitman, 2015) but that doesn't start until 10pm - given that I'll have been at the airport from around 6am, there's a strong possibility that I won't manage to stay the course on my first day. So for my pick I'll settle on this Brazilian mid-lengther about which I know nothing other than the contents of this very creepy trailer (the foley artists are earning their keep here).

Tuesday 28th: No todo es vigilia / Not All Is Vigil (Hermes Paralluelo, 2014)

A love story of a long-married couple who are becoming too infirm to take care of each other, this film gained a lot of positive word of mouth on twitter - and glowing reviews - after screening at San Sebastián last year. The subtitled trailer can be found here.

Wednesday 29th: Sueñan los androides / Androids Dream (Ion de Sosa, 2014)

Directed by the cinematographer of El Futuro (and this trailer suggests some visual similarities with that film), this low voltage sci-fi takes place in Benidorm in 2052 and is one of the central films in the festival's (Im)Possible Futures section.  

Thursday 30th: Crumbs (Miguel Llansó, 2015)

Another (Im)Possible Futures film and another one that I first heard about on twitter (this time in relation to the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year). Crumbs looks like an Ethiopian cross between the journeys in the Baba Yaga fairytale and The Wizard of Oz. With Nazis and a bonus Father Christmas.

Friday 1st: Queen of Earth (Alex Ross Perry, 2015)

An examination of the friendship between two miserable women (Elisabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston) and a downward spiral into delusion and madness - sounds like perfect Friday night viewing and a great way to end my trip!

The next time I post, I'll be in Barcelona!