Karlovy Vary 2010: Interview with Dunia Ayaso & Felix Sabroso (La Isla Interior)

Pedro Almodovar wasn’t invited to Karlovy Vary this year, but in many ways the Spanish master filmmaker’s influence among fellow Spanish filmmakers is evident in Dunia Ayaso & Felix Sabroso‘s “La isla interior” (The Island Inside). Apart from the subject of sexuality, this film has Almodovar’s fingerprints all over it: beginning with the colorful design of the frames, the score which comes awfully close to Alberto Iglesias’ work and the female cast which uses former Pedro film thesps in Geraldine Chaplin, who appeared in “Talk to Her” and Candela Peña who had a small part in “All About my Mother” and a third actress, who is the spitting image of a 1980’s Carmen Maura.

This tells the story of a family, where the patriarch is ill with schizophrenia, and the children are all afraid they’ll inherit the disease. Trying to navigate through life is never easy, and when the sword of doom hangs over your head, it’s even more difficult. Directors Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso came to the Karlovy Vary film festival with their film and I sat with them for a short chat (Dunia doesn’t speak English, so the conversation was mostly with Félix, with occasional additions by Dunia, translated by her fellow director).

Eithan Weitz: Watching your film, I couldn’t help but notice heavy influences of Pedro Almodovar’s work. Was that intentional?
Félix Sabroso: Well, actually we know Pedro personally. Whenever we’re in Madrid we hang out with him. We have quite a few conversations about cinema and films with him, and he (together with his brother, Agustin) has produced a couple of our previous projects. We have a lot of mutual acquaintances, and our world is not far from his. It is only natural that our style will resemble his.

Weitz: One of the characters in your film, the TV actress, is played by an actress who looks exactly like Carmen Maura
Sabroso: Yes she does! Her name is Cristina Marcos (Cristina is in the green blouse), and she is a wonderful actress, and a deep and beautiful human being. Actually, she’s been quite famous in Spain in the 1990’s, and won a few awards, but “La isla interior” is her first movie in 10 years. In the last decade she appeared mostly in theater and TV. For some reason she wasn’t cast in many film roles. We felt she was the right actress for the part, and she was great.

Weitz: It’s the third time you’ve worked with Candela Peña…
Sabroso: Yes, and she is also a close friend of ours. Candela is an extraordinary actress. She’s in character all the time, and not just between the moments where we yell “Action” and “Cut”. When we (Dunia and myself) were writing the script, we also talked a lot with Candela, so when the time came for rehearsals, she already knew her place in the film.

Weitz: The music in your film slightly resembles the music Alberto Iglesias writes for Pedro Almodovar…
Sabroso: Yes, Pedro told us the same thing. Actually, we just started working with a young and talented musician on our next project. He just adores Alberto Iglesias! We’ve been trying to convince him to give up on some of the violins, but it is still a work in progress, and we don’t know yet how things will turn out.

Weitz: It is not common for two directors to work on the same project. How do you divide the work between you two?
Sabroso: Actually, Dunia and I were married for 10 years, so we know each other very well. We’re separated now, but we’re still friends. On previous projects, Dunia was the one in charge of the technical aspects (she was the one who worked with the director of photography, for example), and I took care of the actors’ work. In “La isla interior” we changed things, and we both worked on every aspect of the filmmaking. Of course we fought over quite a few things, but we also try to be very thorough in rehearsals, so when we arrive to the actual shooting, everything runs smoothly.

Weitz: You’ve been making movies for 15 years now, but you haven’t made that many features. Why is that?
Sabroso: First of all, we take our time writing and perfecting the script. Then we rehearse for quite some time. But also you have to understand that in Spain of today, there is still a large group of people who miss the times of General Franco. It is not easy to make films as we do when that group of people resents our choice of themes. On the other hand, there’s the younger generation, who’s happy with free democratic Spain. With our previous projects we found out that we have a small, but loyal group of followers. We hope to expand this group with “La isla interior”. Another thing I would like to add is that, although not biographical, “La isla interior” draws a lot from my personal experience. My late father suffered from dementia for 5 years as a result of a stroke. It was not easy taking care of him in the years prior to his death, and molding those experiences into a script is a long process.

Weitz: When was the film released in Spain, and what other parts of the globe are you taking the film to?
Sabroso: The film was released in Spain last April. Actually, we suffered from a mistake made by our distributors, as they submitted “La isla interior” to the Spanish academy for award consideration last year, before distribution, so come award time, very few saw the film, and no awards came our way. But we are compensated now, as our leading actor won best actor in the Valladolid film festival, and us coming to the Czech Republic is part of our international tour of the film. In two weeks we’re going to bring this movie to the US, with scheduled showings in Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago. Also, as far as I know, international distribution contracts are being closed as we speak. Two weeks ago I was informed that we will be distributed in Israel, for example.

Weitz: And finally, would you be so kind to disclose details about your next project?
Sabroso: We are planning a trilogy, “La isla interior” serving as the first part. It will not tell the story of the same characters, but it will deal with the same themes of destiny vs. free choice. But we’re still in early writing stages, so that’s all I can say so far.