20/12/2022 - Starring young actors selected after careful casting, the filmmaker's debut feature, about teenage mistakes (with adult consequences), is produced by Aquí y Allí Films

After cementing her career as a screenwriter and director in the short film (Conversa cunha muller morta, Ei, guapa), in the web series Antes de perder (RTVE-Playz) and with the documentary A poeta analfabeta, Sonia Méndez (Vigo, 1980) now ventures into fiction feature films as one of the new voices of Galician cinema and in Galician with this psychological drama with hints of thriller entitled As neves [+see also:
film review
interview: Sonia Méndez
film profile].

The film, which was shot a few days ago during the snow season in the province of Lugo, stars teenagers who were selected in a casting that attracted over 500 young actors. This story is "a portrait of a hyper-connected generation living in isolation in rural areas", in the words of the director herself.

The plot recounts how, in a remote Galician village, a group of teenagers celebrate carnival. During the party, a sex tape of Paula, one of the girls, is shared. Overwhelmed by the situation, she leaves the party and disappears without a trace in the middle of a heavy snowfall. While the whole town looks for her, her friends will have to face their share of the responsibility. 

"I want to tell the stories of these teenagers up close and intimate. To connect and show these boys and girls, almost as if it was an excuse to get back to myself when I was their age," the filmmaker said. "Adolescence has always appealed to me in an aesthetic sense. I feel like it is a wonderful fertile territory for visual storytelling. Much more appealing in this age of multiple screens".

Méndez has a multidisciplinary background in the fields of theatre and audiovisuals. She studied acting at various schools and from there her interest led her to study other fields. At the Centre d’Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya in Barcelona she followed courses in Scriptwriting and Actors Direction; at the International School of Film and TV in Cuba she studied Dramatic Construction; and at the School of Image and Sound in La Coruña she trained as a Show and Audiovisual Producer. She also works as a teacher.

As an actress, Sonia Méndez became known in Galicia in 2001 with the series Terras de Miranda, which was followed by others such as Os Atlánticos. During this time she appeared in feature films Una mujer invisible, by Gerardo Herrero and The Sex of Angels [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Villaverde
film profile] by Xavier Villaverde, and recently, Olvido y León [+see also:
trailer
interview: Xavier Bermúdez
film profile], by Xavier Bermúdez.

Produced by Cósmica Producións and Aquí y Allí Films (which is currently showing Carlos Vermut’s magnificent Manticore [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile] in Spanish cinemas), As Neves is supported by ICAA and AGADIC, and collaborates with TVG, having participated in the workshops of Torino Film Lab and Sources 2. The film will be distributed in Spain in 2023 by Elamedia.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)