FILM
L'Alternativa, 25 Festival de Cine Independiente de Barcelona
Cardozo Basteiro
PORQUE LA SAL
(Because of Salt)
Spain
SHORTS 2 (85')
TUES 13, 21.00 H & THUR 15, 17.30 H @ AUDITORI CCCB
Tickets
'Because of salt' is not a question, it is rather an answer. A documentary aspiring to be a poem.
Hey Cardozo, thanks for talking to TNC, how is everything going?
My pleasure.
Your short film Porque la sal / Because of Salt will be screened at L'Alternativa Fest this November, what does it mean for you to be at the festival?
It is such good news. The last two editions I was part of the audience and it’s really nice to attend now as a director. I usually like what it’s shown there and since now I am living in Barcelona it’s an opportunity for my friends here to watch our piece.
This is your debut short film do you have any nerves ahead of your screening at L'Alternativa Fest?
Of course. I am not sure they are connected with being my debut short film.
It’s always a thing to expose yourself in front of people, isn’t it? At the same time it is not the first screening of the short film so it is less scary than the first time, I think. It feels easier once you know more or less the weak and strong parts of your work
Tell me a little bit about Porque la sal / Because of Salt, how did this film come about?
I am part of the location department in the film industry. I had to prepare the village of "salinas de cabo de gata" as a film location. There, I met these people who live in a place that doesn’t belong to them even though they’ve been living their whole life there. I liked spending time with them and a film project looked like a good way to stay there longer.
It was a long process, three years in total, and the project changed many times. In the end, it became a personal portrait of how I see them.
What was the inspiration behind your screenplay?
"The settlement" of Sergei Loznitza or "The Postman's White Nights" of Andrei Konchalovsky, besides two important Spanish references for me that were Mercedes Álvarez and José Luis Guerín. But I think the most important people who inspired me were the people from the team. As you mentioned this was my first project as a director and also as a writer but it wasn't the first project of my crew, so they were super important during the filming process. They showed me films that were connected with my words and helped me focus many times. It's maybe a common process for filmmakers, but I know this project, starting from the screenplay, would not have been possible without the creative minds of the rest of the people who were there. I chose the direction but together we chose the way. In that sense, it was really important to work on the writing process with my partner in crime Ian de la Rosa and on set with Michal Babinec as they understood really fast the project and gave me the inputs I needed to not lose track.
As writer and director do you find it hard to keep both roles separate?
Well, in this project I don’t see the point in separating them. Everything was written from the experience of sharing life and sharing life was the main point of the shooting. And since this is the first one I cannot generalize on how my process usually evolves.
What were the biggest challenges you faced making Porque la sal / Because of Salt?
Myself in really taking the director’s role and direct.
Have you always wanted to be a filmmaker?
It’s hard to say. Yes, maybe I wanted to but I didn’t feel able to be one. Still I don't know what I will be in the future. Now I feel more confident on facing the idea of making films tho. Some new projects are dancing on my mind.
What is the most valuable less you're taking away from directing your debut short film?
I think about how ethic is super important to make any kind of art. Also that for me directing is not a command role but a guidance role. You just point the place where you want to arrive and all together decide how to get there.
"The relationships you create in the process are those that make an impact for real..."
Do you have any advice or tips for any fellow filmmaker?
Oh no. I don’t feel entitled to give any advice.
And finally, what do you hope people will take away from Porque la sal / Because of Salt?
I hope they can see the relationship we built between each other. This is for me the most valuable thing. It is not everything about art or films. The relationships you create in the process are those that make an impact for real, in a positive or negative way. And then we will see if that has or not an impact on the audience. "Works of art are of an infinite solitude" like Rilke said. No matter what you try, you can only be sure about the impact of the piece on the people who made it.