Cannes Film Festival | Pablo Berger: “The director that I am is a product of the child I was”



To say that Pablo Berger loves risks is an understatement.. Direct a tragicomedy about 1970s pornography –73 (2003) -, a silent black and white adaptation of a children’s story –snow white (2012) – Hideous, Hard to Classify –Abra Kadabra (2017) — and now, for the first time in his career, an animated film that explores the romance between a dog and an android in 1980s New York.

Adaptation of the homonymous graphic novel by Sarah Varron, Android dreams It speaks both eloquently and poignantly about the need we all have to find our soul mates and our ability to carry on when the world leaves us alone. And it does so without having to resort to a single sentence of dialogue, resorting instead to effective doses of physical comedy, a soundscape that captures the chaotic energy of the city and a visual design whose relative simplicity allows room for emotions to emerge from time to time, naturally and effortlessly. Resorting to bad manners. It has just been presented at the Cannes Film Festival.

Q: It’s not uncommon for a live-action film director to decide to make an animated film. What prompted you to do this?

R. I never thought I could do that until, about 10 years ago, Sarah Varron’s graphic novel fell into my hands. It struck me that the dialogues were completely dispensed with, and reading them amused me, but above all they affected me deeply. Years later, I re-read it, moved me again, and interpreted it as a sign. Anyway, as a viewer I really enjoy animation and some of the best recent movies are animated in my opinion.

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Q: How would you say “Robot Dreams” relates to your previous films?

A: Responds to the same creative impulse. I need every new project to surprise me, to step into uncharted territory. I often say that for me every movie is a circus act and I, its director, kept a tightrope while making it. Unlike that, Android dreams It opens a new path in my career. Yes 73And snow white And Abra Kadabra I made the Iberian trilogy, and now I made my American film, A Love Letter to New York made, yes, with Spanish means of production.

s. What challenges have you found working differently than usual for you?

A: To tell the truth, animation and live action are more similar than I could have imagined before making the movie. As a director, I’m always on the lookout for excitement, whether it’s working with animated characters or an actor posing in front of the camera. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two formats lies in the duration of the process. It takes about eight weeks to shoot a live-action movie like the one I’m doing, and an animation takes two years. But it’s worth it. If we agree that each movie is just an approximation of the movie the director has in mind, the animator allows the distance between the dream movie and the actual movie to be practically non-existent.

s. How much was the film inspired by the ten years I spent in New York?

R. Inevitably, it draws from many of my memories and references. In New York I lived it all. I was in film school, experienced a love story and subsequent breakup, experienced seasons of loneliness and sadness, found love again and got married… It’s a very personal movie.

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Q: All of your films are set in the past. because?

A: I suppose they all relate to my childhood or youth, which is something I am well aware of. It was the result of cartoons I saw in my childhood, from my experience in the music world. The manager that I am is a product of the child I was. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.

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Q: “Robot Dreams” is your second movie without dialogue after “Snow White”. What interests you in silence?

R. For me, cinema is about telling stories with images, editing them and accompanying them with music and other sounds. There are clearly directors who are experts at handling words, which I love; Tarantino’s dialogues, for example, are pure showmanship. But I feel that the austerity of the dialogues leaves more space for the viewer to complete the movie. Also, I grew up in a family devoted to music, listening to a lot of music and feeling intense feelings thanks to it. For a long time, my dream was not to take part in Cannes, but to take part in Eurovision.

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