Following its participation in the Cannes competition, Carla Simón's third feature film, Romería [+lire aussi :
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interview : Carla Simón
fiche film], is eagerly awaited in Spain, where it is set to premiere this Friday 5 September, distributed by Elastica.

Cineuropa: Your films are like family projects, aren't they?
Carla Simón: In a way, yes. My brother has composed the music for all my films. My sister is an actress. She has appeared in my earlier films and worked an acting coach on Romería. My uncle also makes an appearance and my parents are always around. It's nice to be able to share such personal things with people you love.

Does being supported by family make it easier to open your heart?
I think so. I’ve always been interested in family because I don't take it for granted. As a child, I had to build one from scratch. There’s something that makes me observe families closely and feel the urge to portray them.

Families, with their voids and shadows, as seen in Romería.
I wanted to understand that family, to empathise with them, and to understand why they handled the memory of that loss in that way. Tainted by the stigma of taboo and AIDS, this family finds it very difficult to come to terms with the memory of the loss of their son/brother. It was about portraying it from there.

In the film, you address AIDS, a subject that has appeared this year in other titles such as the Chilean film The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Diego Céspedes
fiche film], the French film Alpha [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] and the Spanish miniseries Silence [+lire aussi :
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fiche série].
It's interesting what has happened with AIDS. Scientifically, it has advanced to the point where people can live peacefully with HIV today. But socially, no progress has been made; the taboo continues to strongly stigmatise those affected. Although the context differs from country to country, it’s an issue that needs to be revisited because it is far from resolved. Several works of fiction about AIDS have coincided recently because enough time has passed to talk about it. And why are we talking about the 1980s generation again? Not only does Romería do so, but also several recent books. Because it was a generation that completely broke away from everything, from conservative, Francoist and Catholic values, and embraced freedom and proposed progressive ideas. Now, as conservatism is making a terrible comeback, it is good to revisit that.

Do you think living through the COVID-19 pandemic has helped us to look at AIDS with more understanding?
During COVID-19, I thought a lot about that earlier pandemic. Now we understand AIDS better, with all that absurd burden of punishment, as if you had done something wrong, and that shame. It’s important to get rid of those ideas. And when you’ve had COVID, you realise that it’s also a virus and there are many ways you can become infected. We should start to remove the stigma surrounding AIDS.

After Summer 1993 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Carla Simón
fiche film] and Alcarràs [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Carla Simón
interview : Carla Simón
interview : Giovanni Pompili
fiche film], does Romería close a creative chapter for you?
Yes. I’ve created three family portraits centred on youth. Now that I’m a mother, my perspective has shifted: I’m part of the middle generation. These are three films that look back at the past, but now I’m drawn to looking towards the future and in new directions.

This new direction was already evident in your last film, where you even included a musical number...
You must always question yourself and try new things in order to progress. I came from a strong commitment to reality and pure naturalism. With Romería, it made perfect sense to break with that, given the premise of the film: a girl who tries to reconstruct her parents' memories through the stories of others, fails, and comes to the conclusion that she can imagine them. It’s an ode to imagination and cinema’s power to create the images we lack and even to bring the dead back to life. I want to keep exploring naturalism, but also try other paths.

Romería has already been screened at Cannes and at some previews. Which audience reaction has surprised you the most?
People connect differently depending on their generation. My parents' generation are moved and thank me for celebrating their youth. The audience goes on a journey with the film.