Malaga -community service ‘Jone, Batzuetan’ dirty for the first prize
World premiere at the Malaga Film Festival on March 15, Sara Fantova’s feature debut “Jone, Batzuetan” (“Jone, sometimes”) for the main prize in the official competition.
Written by Fantova, Nuria Martín and Núria Dunjó, the coming-of-age story that takes place in the Bilbao of the Basque Country Put from the lives of all three.
Although Fantova notes that it is not based on real events or a specific episode from her own life, it was inspired by the diaries that her father gave her of his own childhood.
“Reading those documents was what initially inspired the development of the film. What ultimately left that inspiration, the lyrics that Jone accompany are told in voice-over by her father, “Fantova said Variety.
“Further than, and despite the fact that she chose to set the film in a real context – the celebrations of Bilbao’s Astte Nagusia – the story is completely fictional,” she said to it: “We wanted to explore something that we thought meaningful: that crucial moment when you start to be confronted with adulthood and needs to learn.”
The film portrays the coming-of-age trip of the 20-year-old Jone who experiences her first love in the midst of the unexpected acceleration of Parkinson’s disease of her father. During Bilbao’s Semana Grande Oscills between a sense of invincibility shared with her new girlfriend Olga and resistance to her father’s unique approach to manage his illness. These experiences culminate in a transforming summer where Jone recognizes her evolution from girl years to approaching adulthood.
“We have chosen to display this balance through themes of illness and love, or the contrast between festivities and at home. Jone must learn to accept pain and illness as part of life while she experiences her first love, “she noticed.
Finding the right actress to play the leadership was one of her biggest challenges. “My goal when casting was not to specifically find a non-professional actress for the role of Jone. Instead, both Amets Zulueta, my casting director and I were determined to find the Jone that we all suggested. That is why we did an audition with a wide range of candidates – including professional actresses, acting students and even those without earlier experience, “said Fantova, whose first trip to making films was her short” no me desperdéis “, who premiered at Valladolid’s 63RD Seminci and participated in the Rotterdam Film Fest, among many others.
“After months of searching and feeling that we had not found the perfect fit, Amets, who is as old as Jone, turned to her friends. Then we were lucky – Olaia Aguayo, one of the best friends of Amets, decided to audition. With her second audition it was unmistakably clear – she was our Jone, “she said.
Fruit from a rich Basque-catalan new Talentas, the film is directed by Bilbao-born Fantova, an alum of the renowned Escac film school of Barcelona, the Alma Mater from Ja Bayona, which was chosen to direct three episodes of Hit Catalan TV series “This is not swimming.”
The film is produced by two new Talent Drivers, Amania Films, under the leadership of director David Pérez Sañudo, one of the most distinctive directors of the Basque Country (“Ane is missing”, “The Last Romantics”), and the Escac Estudios (“Salve, Casing, led, the Sergi Casing, the Sergia van, the Sergia) led, the Sergi Casing from the Sergia) The decades, Charting of the Decades, Charting Own films, Charting Offer Offer Offing Offer Offer or Agaging Offing or Aanging Stories, Fixations and Travails.
“Jone, Batzuetan” went through the Mafiz WIP program of Malaga in his development trip, including Basque Country Noka Mentoring and Abycine Lanza in 2020 and Laboratorio Opera fine last year.
As was to be expected, securing financing was one of its biggest challenges. “Creative, having to write while keeping deadlines in mind to meet certain subsidies or financing means that you do not feel completely free; You always wait, and that was the most difficult part. This film was made in a rather unusual and special way – we financed it after photographing was completed, “she said, adding,” It has been a very long process, but for me it was incredible because I was able to share it with my friends – development, shooting and editing at every phase. I have shared all the phases with friends, and that has been the most beautiful and enriching part of the process. “
John Hopewell has contributed to this article.
