Julio Medem’s ‘8,’ at This Year’s EFM, Explores 90 Years of Spanish History Through Two Intertwined Lives

variety.com:

Callum McLennan Julio Medem, one of Spain’s most distinctive cinematic voices, returns to the spotlight at Berlin’s European Film Market with “8,” an ambitious and formally daring film that spans 90 years of Spanish history through the intertwined lives of Octavio and Adela.

Javier Rey (“Cocaine Coast”) stars as Octavio, while Ana Rujas, acclaimed for her role in Los Javis’ “La Mesías,” plays Adela.

Produced by Spain’s Morena Films, behind box office hits “Cell 211” and “Champions,” with Barbazul la película AIE, Eidan Produce and Quexito Films, the feature is sold by Latido Films. “I proposed to tell the story of Octavio and Adela’s 90 years in eight chapters, and that each one would be a sequence shot, so that the time spent in each would be ‘a while’,” Medem told Variety.

The director’s approach is rooted in the idea that “the only one who has a complete and privileged view of both the characters’ lives is the spectator.” At the heart of the film is the premise that the lives of Octavio and Adela are linked by more than coincidence. “Octavio and Adela’s fates are intertwined by what I call the ‘meta-reality’ of eight — separated yet drawn together by an invisible force of chance.” This chance begins with their being born on the same day at the same time in neighboring villages.