The Solé family had been granted the right to farm, in perpetuity, a number of acres in Lleida in return for having harboured the landowner’s family and saved their lives during the Spanish Civil War. But when the landowner dies, his heir is indifferent to this and is determined to sell. The family’s flourishing peach farm is thus threatened with obliteration and replacement by a massive solar farm. In the present day, a spit and a handshake are no longer considered legal tender.
Co-written with Arnau Vilaró, and shot by cinematographer Daniela Cajías, ‘Alcarràs’ (2022) won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale (the first Catalan film to do so), the Lurra Greenpeace Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival 2022 and the film has also been selected for entry for Best International Feature, at the 95th Academy Awards (the Oscars) in 2023.
Director Carla Simón Pipó was born in 1986. She was barely 6 years old when she lost both her parents to Aids before the disease had even been properly identified. After that, she was sent to Garrotxa in the province of Girona, to live with her aunt, her uncle and her cousin.
She studied Audiovisual Communications in Barcelona and after completing further studies at the Televisió de Catalunya, she won a Spanish scholarship from the Caixa de España to the prestigious London Film School where she obtained a Master of Arts. While in the UK, she completed a documentary ‘Born Positive’ (2012), a short fiction ‘Lipstick’ (2013) and worked on a number of other productions.
She gained immediate renown with her debut feature ‘Estiu 1993’(2017) (Summer 1993) that garnered no fewer than 38 awards at festivals around the world. The film, a moving autobiographical gem of a movie, tells the story of her life with her uncle, aunt and cousin, who later adopted her after she had lost her parents. In this delightful film, Simón’s natural talent for working with children came to the fore. Now in ‘Alcarràs’ she has demonstrated it yet again, as she works with a group of non-professional actors and three children.
Simón: - “…the gaze of a child is always an enigma, virgin territory…It’s really important to vindicate that amazing capacity of children to adapt to new situations, which is often so much greater than it is in adults. We have to understand that children are intelligent and that we must never underestimate them”
Simón admits that in ‘Estiu 1993’, she wanted to talk about how children face death, here in ‘Alcarràs’ they are not dying, but facing the pain of the death of their way of life and the long-held traditions that go with it. The overall theme of grief, as in her earlier films, is ever present. Her innate capacity to capture the subtlest of gestures with the camera makes her films a treat to watch.
“I like it when there isn’t too much dialogue and the audience have to gradually understand what is taking place, making the connections to make sense of it all. After all, that’s how it is in real life. We have to discover what’s going on in the relationships between people through their gestures, with very few words.”
Jordi Pujol Dolcet, Xènia Roset, Anna Otin, Ainet Jounou, Josep Abad, Albert Bosch, Joel Rovira, and Isaac Rovira
When I interviewed Carla Simón in 2017, she explained why she had gone into film making: -
“I am part of an extensive family that is a bottomless pit of stories, relationships, feelings and entanglements. Watching and listening to all these stories is how I decided I wanted to make films, to show the complexity of the human condition and the complexity of family relationships in particular.”
‘Alcarràs’ (2022) will be on general release from Jan 6th 2023. For info at https://mubi.com/r/alcarras-uk
Credits : Director: Carla Simón / Writers: Carla Simón and Arnau Vilaró / Cinematographer: Daniela Cajías / Editor:Ana Pfaff / Music :Andrea Koch.
Cast: Quimet: Jordi Pujol Dolcet / Dolors: Anna Otín/ Mariona: Xènia Roset / Roger: Albert Bosch / Rogelio: Josep Abad / Gloria: Berta Pipó/ Iris: Ainet Jounou/ Pere: Joel Rovira / Pau: Isaac Rovira
