13/06/2025 - The Spanish filmmaker makes her feature film debut with a stop-motion film that uses other techniques, with a personal message to children championing humanist values

Twenty years after premiering a short film there, Irene Iborra returns to the Annecy Film Festival with her first feature film, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake [+see also:
interview: Irene Iborra
film profile]. The film is an adaptation of Maite Carranza's novel La película de la vida (The Film of Life) and is an international co-production between Spain, France, Belgium, Chile and Switzerland.

Cineuropa: How long did this earthquake last, from its inception to its presentation?
Irene Iborra: I bought the adaptation rights in 2017. Then, in 2020, we began pre-production and applied for funding, and the universe must have been on our side, because the financing went smoothly. In total, it’s been five years of work.

What was your personal motivation for taking on this venture? Was it something intuitive or emotional?
You’ve put it perfectly: both intuition and emotion. I’ve been directing short films since 2004 and I never really aspired to make a feature film. For that, I needed a solid story that would keep me interested and motivated for the long haul. And I hadn't found that. But then I read my friend Maite's novel and I was deeply moved. I thought it was a beautiful and delicate way of explaining something complex to children: how one child explains something to another child. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stick with it for so long, but it touched my heart; and I had just seen My Life as a Zucchini [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile], which showed me that it was possible to make this kind of film. I said to myself: this is the benchmark, with sensitive topics. And all of this propelled me forward. Looking back, it’s been worth it.

The subject matter is certainly delicate, dealing with social issues. What precautions did you take to ensure that it didn’t become too heavy-handed or, conversely, insufficient?
The tough topics, treated with innocence and fantasy, were already in the novel, without judgement, which meant we had a good head start. Also, the stop motion technique itself is artisanal, and the textures (the puppets have wool hair and the fabrics of their clothes are real) adds warmth to the screen. This allowed us to make it friendly without being corny: we talk to children using their own language, on their level.

In addition to stop motion, you've used other techniques, such as silhouettes.
It made sense because they are small stories within the main story. The first technique is silhouette animation and the second had to be with sand or soil: playing with materials allows us to accompany each story.

The film, like the novel, is an ode to imagination... and to cinema?
Exactly! Cinema is a tool for life. Olivia, the protagonist, uses it in this way. At first, it’s like a protective shield, but then it also becomes a prison, because it hides her fear. Until she explains her fears, her distress does not end. The film is an ode to fantasy.

You’ve assembled a multinational and diverse team.
Having such a large and dispersed team has its pros (bringing a range of different points of view and experiences) and cons. But overall it has worked well: it was complicated being so large and with different time zones (for example, between Europe and Chile). We were fortunate to have so many countries on board, without whom it would have been impossible to make this feature film.

The voices are particularly important in the film...
It was a bold decision on my part, because I wanted to shoot it with children and not with adults playing children, which is the usual and more comfortable route. I'm thrilled that Emma Suárez voiced the mother and Jordi Évole played the journalist. It was a privilege to work with them. Finding the right children's voices was difficult because we chose kids who weren't actors, but rather amateurs who were as natural as possible, and recruited from schools. The result brings the film to life.

Are the values conveyed by Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake necessary today?
The film has two main themes: we have the power to decide how to act as individuals, but we are part of a larger network with nature, our community; and the power to love one another. This is a film where the characters hug a lot, and we realised that when their big heads bumped into each other. I hope to convey a message of hope to children: we are never alone; there is always someone we can count on. And this message is important right now, especially for younger generations. If, after seeing it, they leave with their hearts warmed, then mission accomplished!

(Translated from Spanish)