19/04/2024 - Zoe Stein, who previously starred in the short film of the same name, on which this feature about grief and all its ghosts is based, toplines the cast together with Lluís Homar

l-r: Actress Zoe Stein, director Lucía Aleñar and actor Lluís Homar on the set of Forastera

Filming has just begun for Forastera (lit. “Outsider”), the feature debut by Lucía Aleñar, whose short film of the same name was selected for the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020. The feature about identity is being shot, in Catalan, until 10 May in various different parts of Alcúdia and Pollença (Mallorca). The cast is made up of Spanish thesps Zoe Stein (whom we first saw in the film Manticore [+see also:
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The storyline tells of how Catalina’s (played by Zoe Stein) holidays are dramatically turned upside down following the death of her grandmother, to which she is the sole witness. The simple, casual act of putting on the deceased lady’s clothes will become a gateway to a phantasmagorical world that will lead the girl to occupy, both literally and figuratively, the space left behind by the old woman, something that will cause an emotional upheaval among those who love her.

“There isn’t just one single way of feeling pain, and Forastera explores this within a family unit where the hierarchy is upended and the characters will have to seek out a new status quo,” states the first-time filmmaker. “With this movie, I wish to look into the perils and virtues of these repercussions via a girl who is trying to find herself and who discovers a path to this through the character of her late grandma, because she’s someone who wanders somewhat invisibly through her surroundings and who wishes to be seen. When she begins to embody her grandmother, copying her actions and gestures, she finds herself confronted by her grandfather’s gaze. Assuming this new identity, she gradually gains a false sense of control and belonging; she takes refuge in this imaginary and nostalgic game, and gradually loses track of what is real and what is not,” states Aleñar.

“Through this movie, I wish to toy with the figure of the ghost we have all come to know through genre films, which is usually something metaphysical, unruly or even vengeful. In Forastera, the ghosts are part of the characters’ grieving process: I want to explore these creations that they generate themselves, in principle to heal themselves, and how they can evolve and distort the reality they live in,” sums up the writer-director, who took part in the Cannes Residency (Cinéfondation) programme with this project, as well as in two editions of the Next Step lab, run by the Critics’ Week.

Forastera is a co-production by Spanish outfits Lastor Media, Vilaüt Films and La Perifèrica Produccions, and Sweden’s Fox In the Snow. Ariadna Dot, Marta Cruañas, Tono Folguera, Bàrbara Ferrer, Paco Mulet, Montse Rodríguez, Oliver Guerpillon and Marta Requera are the attached producers. The film boasts the involvement of TV3, IB3 and Filmin, as well as support from the ICAA, ICEC, Fundació Mallorca Turisme - Mallorca Film Commission, Creative Europe – MEDIA and the Swedish Film Institute.

(Translated from Spanish)