We’re intrigued by the community you have filmed. How did you come across them? Did you know them previously?
We shot the music video in the south of Spain. The crew consisted only of Oriol Caba, the line producer, and us. We went to Cadiz knowing that we wanted to shoot a feeling, that particular feeling that flamenco music and gypsy culture transmit: a mix of deep sadness and melancholy with powerful happiness and joy.
We also knew that we needed it to be as real as possible. So we went to find our characters in the San Fernando neighborhood, where Camaron de la Isla – the myth of flamenco music – was born. We were really lucky to meet Pedro Sara, a Spanish documentary director who knew people in that particular neighborhood and helped us to introduce ourselves to them and to make a kind of “street casting”.
Mainly we talked to the people and got to know them a bit before fixing a date for the shooting. Sometimes it was more improvised. For example in the case of the powerful lady who dances. In the same moment we met her we asked her to shoot her dancing, just there, in the middle of the street, while Pedro was singing at her and a bunch of people were enjoying the show. It’s definitely been a really great adventure.
What was behind your decision to shoot in black and white? And did you shoot the film yourself?
We never thought about asking anyone else to be the cinematographer, we wanted to set up a very comfortable and familiar environment while we where shooting in order to be more flexible, free and capable to achieve what we where looking for – that’s why we did the cinematography as well as loading, focus pulling, art directing and that’s why Oriol was joining us on this adventure, he’s a great producer as well as a very good and close friend.
We knew that we were going to shoot in so many different places that we could not control light, colours and textures due to this flexibility and freedom so we thought that black-and-white could give us a sort of aesthetical continuity. During the research we end up looking at Alberto García-Alix photographies that influenced us a lot, and they are mainly in black-and-white.
Is this your first collaboration together or have you worked on other projects?
We had made a few personal projects before, mainly for fun, we shot a couple of Super8 short movies and we also made a photographic project in Singapore focused on people living in the public houses there. We really enjoy working together. In Forever Pictures we found the perfect setting to shoot all these projects together. Sasha Nixon (executive producer in Forever Pictures) knows us from a long time and she has given us the opportunity to develop this new adventure.
Marc will you continue shooting for other directors while you develop your own directing career?
M: Obviously I’m a DoP, I’m not a director and I enjoy my work so much. When I’m shooting with Camilla I take care about the cinematography as well.
Camilla please tell us what has led you to directing.
C: I don’t know exactly how I ended up directing, but since I finished university I’ve never stop shooting personal projects and small experiments. Meanwhile I’ve started working as a producer and than later I’ve worked also as an editor. Finally, luckily, I’ve attended a master in direction in the ESCAC (Cinema school of Catalunya) and I won a prize to shoot my first short movie.
Apart from music videos are you looking to shoot other genres – commercials, fashion films perhaps?
We’ve both worked in commercials before this new adventure, so it’s quite a natural process, and we know that it can be really interesting and challenging.Fashion films are another kind of film we’d really love to do.
You’ve been part of the CANADA family for years working out of Barcelona and Italy – I’m thinking about the Diesel film here. Have you ever considered a move to London or elsewhere?
Well, we actually moved to London in October and we’re really happy in the city, we are lucky to have good friends here too. We miss Barcelona, friends, sea…sun, but we try to go there quite often anyway.
And of course we are still part of the CANADA family!!
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