Holly Jones Focusing on female protagonists, Spanish director Elena López Riera shies away from old tropes of promiscuity, desire, and the sealed fates they typically dictate in her first feature film, “El Agua.”Sold by Adeline Fontan-Tessau-headed Elle Driver for international and distributed in Spain by Filmin (“Lucas”) and producer Maria Zamora and distributor Enrique Costa’s Elastica Films (“Alcarrès”), the film keeps one foot planted firmly in reality, using found and documentary-style footage dispersed throughout to highlight a raw narrative.
The other foot loosely traces the boundaries of ominous lore that’s woven through the narrative like fine thread, ever-beneath the surface of scenes dealing with young love, strong feminine bonds, and the urge to escape it all and begin anew. “El Agua” is a co-production between Switzerland’s Alina FIlms (“Azor”), Spain’s Suica Films (“Lobster Soup”) and France’s Les Films du Worso (“Tumbuktu”), in conjunction with Swiss public broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse.Ahead of the film’s world premiere at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight on Friday, López Riera, whose previously released short film “Pueblo” debuted at the festival in 2015, spoke with Variety about mysticism and her approach to cinema.The film touches on the fate that’s bestowed upon us, the fate we place on ourselves.
Do you believe people can escape their fate?I hope so. I’ve always been very interested in this idea of destiny because I believe that, in the collective imagination, it functions as an internal mechanism with which many people justify their actions, or rather, their non-actions, their immobility.
Read more on variety.com