Interview with director Aitor Arregi (ZARAUTZEN EROSI ZUEN)

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of ZARAUTZEN EROSI ZUEN (SHE BOUGHT IS AT ZARAUTZ) at the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film Festival:

ZARAUTZEN EROSI ZUEN was awarded Best Film at the April 2015 WILDsound Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo interview with director Aitor Arregi:

Matthew: What motivated you to make this film?

Aitor: Every day life can offer us stories of great narrative potential. To tell a story you need a conflict, however banal it is, you can make important for the protagonist. In this case, our protagonist (Miren) misses her shirt at the store. She knows who stole it, but she can’t prove it. She becomes obsessed with it and you may think it’s nothing more than an anecdote. But for me it’s not only that, Miren is struggling to regain her battered dignity. That moves me and makes me feel that this concept can connect with the public. As much as it is apparently a small story, I think it’s a serves as a sounding board to talk about other things and to create feelings in the audience. We wanted that a part of the audience, since it is impossible to convince everyone, to feel identified with that feeling of wanting to give a strike on the table and say “that’s enough!”, and not achieving it.

At the same time, as I said, it is a story of an obsession. For me, seeing an obsessed character has a great narrative force. I think we’ve all ever obsessed with something or someone and we have given importance to something that, seen in perspective, hadn’t. I think a very human attitude and that is why Miren’s obsession is close to me.

Finally, I would say it is a story about the battle between desire and reality. Miren makes a movie in her head, she thinks that looking into the eyes to Jaione (the supposed thief), with a Clint Eastwood glance, Jaione will melt. The reality is that when she stands in front of her opponent, instead of Clint Eastwood, Miren becomes a dubious Peter Sellers.

Matthew: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

Aitor: About six months. The script and pre-production two months and a half, shooting one week and postproduction sound image and another two months more ore less.

Matthew: Talk about your cast: The performances were all exceptional? How did you find these actors and what type of rehearsals did you have?

Aitor: This is a story that depends very much on the actors. It is a character-driven story. If they are not good, it would be a disaster and wouldn’t work. Therefore, we decided not to risk and we called the players we liked and we knew they could do a great job. They are Basque actors, we knew their job well, some of them had worked with us, for example Nagore Aranburu, the protagonist. We did not want to risk and am personally very happy with their work.

We assayed a few times before, a few days before the recording. I indicated them how I saw each character and I can say it was perhaps the best moments that I had throughout the production phase of the film. They caught almost everything at the first, almost everything was organic, natural … this is not always the case but fortunately with our short it was. I think it clearly shows in the final result. In our short you could blame several things, but not the acting, I’m proud of our actors.

Matthew: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Aitor: As for filming definitely the hardest part was the day we had to shoot the Carnival scene. That is the scene of the climax, when Miren finally faces with Jaione. The party you see in that scene is real and the actors worked in a real scenario. It was madness!!

On the other hand, editing wasn’t easy. We thought we had a clear history that would not give us problems editing. But as the days passed, we didn’t have the story we wanted to achieve. In the end, we polished the project slowly and we were reassured when we showed to people and saw that reactions were generally positive.

Matthew: How is the film scene in your city and country?

Aitor: Not as well as in the United States or France. People are struggling making films, compared to other nations. In the Basque Country, film it still relatively new. Fortunately, now both the Basque Government and the Basque television (ETB), and also the supporters of Spanish Ministry of Culture and Spanish public television, seem to be betting on production and are producing several feature films, documentaries and shorts. I wish it was more. It is in our hands to make films that connect with the public.

As for the short films, fortunately in the Basque Country, we have Kimuak, which is a program of the Basque Government to distribute and publicize worldwide catalog of selected Basque short films. Our work your festival has come through them and we are really happy with the work Txema and Esther (the people from Kimuak) have done.

Matthew: What were your initial reactions when watching the Toronto audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

Aitor: The feedback from WILDsound is the greatest gift you could for to our filmmaking team. It really was exciting to see people, so many thousands of kilometers from our home, reviewing, discussing our little film. It was the best award. Thank you very much!

Matthew: What film have you seen the most in your life?

Aitor: The Indiana Jones trilogy. Not the last Indiana. I have seen it Maybe about 30 times each film. And at a distance, “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Fargo”, “The Great Escape”…

Matthew: What is next for you? A new film?

Aitor: We are working on a script for a film about a giant who grew up to be 2.50 meters and lived in our country 150 years ago. We are excited but at the same time we are aware of the enormous work which will involve both technically and in terms of setting this story.

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