Many people enter the film industry through a family member or friend. In your case, how did you enter the film industry?

I entered the world of cinema alone, without academic studies. Learning from my studio how to animate and manage my own projects in an independent way. It was a slightly longer road than others, but I think it has been worth the effort and discipline at work to get the audiovisual pieces.

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Why did you decide to make movies?

I have always worked as an illustrator and that is what I have been trained in. But I wanted to be able to see those pieces in motion, come to life. It was a big leap for me to put illustraJon aside and focus solely on animation. But it is what fills me up and brings me happiness. And as my mother always told me, do what you want with your life, but be happy doing it.

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Tell us about your project, why did you start it and how did it come about?

It first started wanting to tell part of my illness and my problems with mental health. But then I thought better of it and told myself that a lot of Spaniards are having this same problem and that the daily suicide rate is 11 people per day who commit suicide in my country. So I wanted to change the focus and put it on the representation of all the pain and suffering suffered by people in Spain, because this is also a pandemic, a silent pandemic that the media does not talk about.

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Had you previously been in another project? How was your experience?

Yes, I was involved in various animated musical projects with a jazz band called Demo Rumudo, making video clips that were quite awarded. Especially one, Seven Flavors, was quite well received at festivals.
And my experience, like all of them, was good, because it helped me grow as a director and animator. I see any past project as a learning experience that makes me mature for the next idea I have, which is why I would never underestimate them. They are part of my path.

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The best and the worst of this project is...

The best thing is to be able to convey to the public a silent reality that is happening and make them participants in reality, and for people with mental health problems who know that they are not alone. That someone tries to take further the problem of the few resources that we have in the Spanish public health for mental health care.

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The worst of this project?

That sometimes I have to stop because it reminds me of times past when I was in a suicidal mode and it hurts my emotional stability a bit.

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If you could go back in time, would you change anything about filming or pre- production?

No, I wouldn't change a thing. What's more, this short is the prequel to a feature film that I'm making together with my life partner Visinel, who is in charge of the soundtrack and everything he is a sound producer. This short film pushed me to want to continue the story and thus release my first feature film for the first time, which continues with the same plot but with a more hopeful hint. Although he conJnues to play with trichrome and is close to experimenJng with more elaborate scripts and a spectacular soundtrack.

 

What do you expect from festivals for your project?

I have already been well received at various festivals such as the LA Independent Women Film Awards, Hollywood Gold Awards, New York InternaJonal Film AwardsTM - NYIFA, Sweden Film Awards, Madrid International Movie Awards, Oniros Film Awards® - New York and more. In these I have received the award, and then in many others I have been selected as in the Mecal Pro Barcelona.

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Do you have experience in film festivals, how has your experience been?

For me it is always an honor that a festival chooses my work, it is a way of knowing that the work done is recognized and there is no more pleasure knowing that the effort and work are rewarded and awarded. For me it is a pleasure to be able to share my work with festivals and that people from different parts of the world can see what is done from a small town in Spain.

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Many of the projects we receive are self-financed, without any producer behind them, which makes all the processes very difficult. Can you tell us what the pre- production process was? Did you do it, did they help you?

All my works are self-produced. Before producing, I create the ideas on paper before animating them and seeing how they would look in sketches. After that I start to create the animaJons frame by frame (I work with StopMotion) and then I put them together in a video editor, in my case, Adobe Premiere.

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And your film preferences? What do you look at in a movie? Acting, direction, production, cinematography, soundtrack etc...

I like horror movies, suspense, fantastic ones where they play with surrealism and experimentation. What I look for in a film is that it grabs me, in whatever way it is. Even if it is a feature film without dialogues. They have to have that magic that dazzled me from the first moment to the end. That is perhaps why I have somewhat strange tastes in movies.

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Your three favorite movies?

Un Chien Andalou, by Luis Buñuel (1929) The Camellia Girl, Suehiro Maruo (1992) Border, Ali Abbasi (2018)

 

And your directors?

Ali Abbasi, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Laura Poitras.

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Can you recommend us an independent movie that you wouldn't recommend to everyone?

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, from Laura Poitras.

 

And the reason for this choice?

Because it's a raw film where they talk about the other side of pharmaceutical companies, exposing a problem that many people are suffering from having had that prescription from a doctor and now nobody takes care of them. I think it shows the reality of the prescription opioid crisis in a very unromantic and real way.

 

And to finish, tell us three movies that you hate but that most people like.

La grande bellezza, from Paolo Sorrentino (2013) The Godfather, from Francis Ford Coppola (1972) Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola (1979)