“For me it is almost a duty to present models of women who are far from traditional femininity”

Valencia, October 28 (European press) –

Director and screenwriter Beatriz Sanchez’s second feature film, The Gigantes, concludes the 37th edition of the Mostra de Valencia on Friday, bringing to the screen an introductory journey that received special mention from the jury and the award for best photography at the festival from Malaga. .

It was composed by two completely different characters and far from traditional femininity. “For me it is a duty. I think that traditional femininity is so well represented that other models must be represented, because we are a super-plural and different group,” said the Valencian director, in statements issued by the festival.

Her second film is about a 15-year-old girl who explores what sexuality is and discovers that she loves women when she finds herself attracted to a travel companion and a heterosexual woman but “very masculine, messy, and extremely selfish, qualities that make her anti-heroine”.

Inscribed in the “road movie” tradition, The Giants puts two solitary characters on the same path: an American woman played by Andrea Sutton and a Mexican teen with whom Samantha Jane Smith makes her debut. United by their past wounds, they embark on a journey in which they encounter a wild desert that requires strength and meditation.

QUIXOTESQUE JOURNEY THROUGH THE DESERT

The film’s title goes beyond being “a metaphor for the greatness of the film’s two protagonists,” Sanchez explains, because it in turn refers to “those gigantic cacti 15 to 20 meters high” that characterize the landscape of Baja California, the place where the protagonists make the journey: “In All this lies that imaginative idea, because they chase a dream, a past that no longer exists, and to me these giants, cacti, are like the mills of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.”

Facing her first film – “All Is Dead”, starring Elena Anaya, which was shot inside a house – the director is now throwing herself into the desert to tell her story: “The context is completely different, my previous film one of them was a search done inside a house and this is a search that takes place outside, It is a wonderful metaphor that has been used in the Bible; the journey through the desert as an introductory journey to self-encounter and discovery.”

Kilometer shot that was “cool” but also “challenging”. The film was recorded in chronological order in two countries, the United States and Mexico: “We were recording from Los Angeles to southern Baja California and traveled through five cities where we were filming. A caravan of a lot of people trying to capture a dream this was this movie.”

The Valencian celebrated her participation in the Mostra, where she spent part of her training as a director. “When I was studying, we always ran to see three or four films every day – he remembers – we did a real movie marathon, so closing the festival is very exciting for me.”

Looking ahead, Beatrice Sanche already has a new project in mind: “I’m writing a screenplay but in a somewhat preliminary process, I still don’t have anything coming out soon.” The only thing he can expect is that his protagonists will also be women: “I imagine that because it’s where I usually work from and where I feel defined and I think I can contribute more.”

The Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani has collaborations with Valencia’s Institute of Culture (IVC), Rambleta, València Film Office, Barreira Arte + Diseño and À Punt Mèdia as official media.