TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES

Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Madre

Rodrigo Sorogoyen
2019 - Spain / France - 2h08

Screenings : sunday 21 - 2:00 pm - Centre de congrès - Amphi Jardin - presented and followed by a debate with the film directors thursday 25 - 6:00 pm - Centre de congrès - Amphi Jardin

Ten years have gone by since Elena's 6-year-old son disappeared. Ten years since that phone call where, alone and lost on a beach in the Landes, he said that he couldn't find his father. Today Elena lives and works in a seaside restaurant. Devastated by this tragic incident, she lives her life as best she can. Until the day she meets a teenager who reminds her incredibly of her lost son…

Following a discussion with friends where they each decided to make a short film about a mobile phone, Rodrigo Sorogoyen shot Madre (Mother) in 2017. This 19-minute film met with incredible success in festivals, and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Short Film. It is easy to imagine how this short film, which constitutes the opening scene of the feature, and which ends with such suspense niggled away at Sorogoyen to the extent that he wanted to continue the story. The character of Elena (Marta Nieto) meets a French teenager and starts a dubious relationship with him (incestuous projection or genuine love affair?). For Sorogoyen and his co-writer Isabel Peña it was a daring gamble: they moved away from the thriller to explore even darker waters, “human relationships and emotions that we don't know, that we don't recognise”, explained Sorogoyen. “Against all the expectations raised at the beginning of the film, Sorogoyen finally makes the emotion of an encounter relatable which is one of the most beautiful things you can hope for from cinema”. (Marcos Uzal; Les Cahiers du cinéma)

CAST AND CREW

Cast : Marta Nieto, Jules Porier, Alex Brendemühl, Anne Consigny, Frédéric Pierrot, Guillaume Arnault, Raúl Prieto
Screenplay : Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Cinematography : Alejandro de Pablo
Sound : Nicolas Mas
Editing : Alberto del Campo
Music : Olivier Arson

Production : Amalur Pictures, Arcadia Motion Pictures, Caballo Films

French distributor : Le Pacte