After having directed series of the likes of Our Only Chance, The Ministry of Time and Madres. Amor y vida, Abigail Schaaff is poised to finish the shoot for her feature-length fiction debut, L’home dels nassos. The film, starring Pablo Derqui (seen recently in Los renglones torcidos de Dios [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]) and Iván Benet (whom we saw in the series Riot Police [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
scheda series]), began principal photography in early February and will wrap shooting during the first week of March. The cast is rounded off by Mercè Llorens, Pep Munné, Maria Molins, Jeannine Mestre, Jorge Motos, Berner Maynes and Malcolm McCarthy, who are flanked by young actors Salli Diallo, Miranda Munné and Lluc Miravete. Filming is taking place in various picturesque locations around Catalonia, such as the town of Mura, the hermitage of Sant Julià d'Uixols de Castellterçol, the Riudarenes Cave, the woods and Romanesque bridge in Gualba, and the Can Plantada country house, one of the highlights of the L'Ametlla del Vallès estate.

The film is a period drama that combines adventure and fantasy, and it revolves around a mythical man who only makes himself visible on 31 December and who has as many noses as there are days in the year. In this way, the film tells a story that connects the 1930s and the 1960s, and it will take a deep dive into the lies and the silence that were imposed by political leaders for decades.

“A couple of years ago, Núria and Jorge Velasco called me up and asked me to read a screenplay by Eric Moral and Núria Velasco, so that I could give them my opinion,” Schaaff explains to Cineuropa. “The story fascinated me, and then I was over the moon when they offered me the chance to direct it. From that moment on, we worked on the script together with Éric and my sister Anaïs Schaaff, and gradually, that commission became “our” film: that of Núria, Jorge, Éric and my own. All of the cast and crew gave it their all so that we could get this film off the ground during a shoot with very some tight deadlines.”

The storyline begins in winter 1968, when, in a small mountain village, three children try to escape from the so-called Home dels Nassos (lit. “Man of the Noses”), a legendary figure who, on the last day of the year, captures children prone to lying. But they are not the only ones who are afraid of him: he can also smell past lies.

“What I like the most about the film are its different levels of interpretation,” continues Schaaff. “It’s designed to reach an adult audience as well as a children’s or youth one. Working with them all in mind is one of the great challenges of directing this project. The world it portrays has to be realistic in order for it to be believable for adults, but not so raw as to be unbearable for kids. The great DoP José Cachón has spent half of the film in the rain (together with our protagonists) so as to achieve the epic feeling that the final scenes in the film required. Because our aim is for the legend of L’home dels Nassos to be appealing for children and for us to be able to reclaim some of the myths from our homeland that are steadily being lost.”

L’home dels nassos, which boasts a total budget of €1.3 million, is a co-production between Aguacate & Calabaza Films, Turanga Films and French outfit Halley Production. Filmax will distribute it in Spanish movie theatres.