Carla Simón

“[Translated] I'm going to start with a Spanish film that I feel needs to be reclaimed, which is El Sur by Víctor Erice. For me, Víctor Erice is a master and one of the great reasons why I make films. People always talk about The Spirit of the Beehive, but I think it's also nice to talk about El Sur. It's a beautiful film with incredible photography and especially that relationship with her father, with that mystery of the father, which I think says a lot about how children see the world.”

“[Translated] Another film that I feel needs to be reclaimed is Wanda by Barbara Loden. Unfortunately, it's the only film this director made, who was Elia Kazan's wife. For me, it's like when you see someone—she acts in it because she was an actress—and it's like you feel that by seeing this film, you know all the complexity of that woman and all her fragility too. I think it's a deeply feminist film and surely one of the stories that has made me think most about what feminism really is.”

“[Translated] Another film up there that fascinates me is Walkabout by Nicolas Roeg. That film, which I think is from the 70s, obviously because in the 70s they experimented a lot, is crazy in its editing. And then it's an incredible story about an encounter in the desert of two characters from very different worlds—well, three actually, because there's also a child. I don't know, it fascinated me, to be honest, and I discovered it very recently thanks to my editor who recommended it to me.”

“[Translated] There are many very interesting things from Italian neorealism here, and since it's always a great influence for me, I'm going to try to choose one, which I find difficult, but it's going to be Umberto D. I think it's a beautiful film. Actually, I like everything Vittorio De Sica does, but this film is so tender and I think it expresses very well the whole spirit of neorealism and the films of that Italian era.”

“[Translated] Well, since we're in Italy, I'm going to recover that masterpiece which is The Tree of Wooden Clogs by Ermanno Olmi. It's a film that hypnotizes me. It talks about the rural world in a very beautiful way. The fact of filming it during the seasons, it's also a choral film with many characters. I find it very beautiful.”

“[Translated] In fact, there's a film here that I saw very recently, that I've seen before, and that I think is a sister to The Tree of Wooden Clogs. This film, Vermiglio by Maura Delpero, about what happens during the war in the villages that don't—among women, especially, how they lived the war from home and from their villages. It's filmed in the Alps and I also recommend it.”

“[Translated] A film that for me is also another masterpiece is Beau travail by Claire Denis. I'm passionate about Claire Denis, but I think that's one of her films that has marked me the most. There's something in the way she relates to the male body, specifically, and that sensuality that she sees in all her characters that I find really fascinating. And that last dance scene, I also think it's very epic.”

“[Translated] Another director who has been recommended to me and I haven't seen her films, and it's wonderful that a box set exists to discover her, is Mai Zetterling. And well, the perfect opportunity to get to know her.”