Can you tell us about your latest film project and the process you followed to make it a reality?

Mountains in Harmony is a call to action in the face of a current problem in the rural world. The change of habits, the disconnection between what is happening and what is happening in the villages, the social and cultural imbalance in general that is affecting the conservation of the mountains and our natural spaces in an important way. In this case we have based ourselves on the Aragonese Pyrenees because of its proximity and knowledge of the territory, but it is a problem that is happening in many other places on the planet. When economic interests and lack of knowledge come together, when greed is an imperative and decisions are taken from outside the territory, the effects can be devastating and irreversible.

 

Making it a reality and being able to tell this story through documentary film has been costly in time, but very exciting to be able to count on people who are experts in the field, ethnographers, professors, biologists, geographers, geologists and researchers who have supported us and helped us to tell the reality of the vulnerability of the mountains and the importance of preserving them. 

 

On the other hand, we have been in the territory for more than forty years and we had a lot of film and photographic material, so it has really been more a work of research, documentation and a very simple filming of interviews. The post-production stage has been the one that has really taken us the longest. In total the project has taken less than a year.

 

What inspired you to become a filmmaker and pursue a career in the film industry?

I imagine curiosity like any other documentary filmmaker and the desire to keep travelling and learning from every place, corner, culture and opinion. To be able to capture a personal vision that helps others to become knowledgeable about the issues we care about, through each story is the greatest inspiration.

 

What difficulties did you encounter during the filming process and how did you overcome them?

The difficulties more than in filming in my case, have been during the whole pre-production process. Finding the financing is the most complex part. To begin with, you have to finance with your means, your money, with your savings, allocate part of the income from your other jobs as a guide, teacher and photographer, to get the initial idea of the project off the ground as an independent producer. Convincing friends, family, acquaintances is also complex, in fact with only a hundred ‘real friends’ who have been patrons we got the first €10,000 of crowdfunding that launched the project. 

 

Overcoming the lack of funding from companies, sponsors, institutions or aid is hard, but it's a question of taking on the challenges that you can really afford with the money you have. The rest you have to do yourself, learning and applying it, directing, editing, scriptwriting and even self-distributing the documentary. 

 

What was the most memorable moment for you during the production of your film?

The most important part is the beginning of the idea and the pre-production, because you are like a sponge reading books, testimonies, interviews, magazine articles, videos, documentaries about the subject, and researching to try to enrich the general vision you have about the field you are going to document. 

 

However, the most memorable moment for me is the editing, where once we have already interviewed the experts and protagonists, we use their testimonies to form the script, and it is not until the last interview that this script is formed and is not definitive. This part is for me the most memorable, because it allows you to tell your initial idea, with different stories to try to shape that documentary plot based on the testimonies of the interviewees and illustrate their words with the photography and filming of resources from the filming and later retakes that you have to add.

 

Can you share any interesting anecdotes or behind-the-scenes stories from the making of your film?

There are many, but one of them is during the filming of the livestock with Zacarías in the port of San Juan de Plan, the first few days the sheep were very restless and their route and itinerary is very fast, they hardly stop. Being able to follow them during the morning that we were there, to record both audio and video sequences that were needed, was quite an achievement, because we went with our tongues hanging out, up and down the mountain.

 

How do you approach the narrative of your films, and what themes or messages do you try to convey?

The narrative of my feature-length documentaries is based on capturing the most interesting testimonies that allow me to tell the story, always ensuring the reality of the facts and the moment they are living. They narrate from the experience, the opinion that each protagonist offers about a specific problem that I question them about and that interests and worries me.

 

The themes I work on are mainly related to the rural world and sustainability. That is why I have liked to show, for example with ‘El Paisaje del Olivar’ (2021), the challenges of depopulation, generational change and the water problem, among others. 

 

The messages of my documentaries seek to show the need to take care of these values. Giving visibility to certain issues that concern us is important, but it is also important to stir consciences and call for action from each viewer, to make them reflect on whether we are doing it right and above all to try to provide solutions so that if someone follows them, this message will have been successful.

 

What is your favourite film genre and why, and is there any director or filmmaker who has influenced your work?

Nature documentaries, because of their informative nature, I also like historical or biopic films. I try to watch as many documentaries and fiction films as I can. I admire the work of great directors; Luis Buñuel, Carlos Saura, José Luis López-Linares, Michael Moore, Werner Herzog, Michael Cimino, Clint Eastwood, Scorsese.....

 

How do you select the cast and crew for your film projects? What qualities do you look for in your collaborators?

Our documentary genre has no cast, only interviewees who help us tell the story we set out to bring to light. We are such a minimalist independent production company that we have very little equipment. I try to do almost everything with the minimum set, which is also more complex to manage, just one, but it allows me more intimacy and closeness with the interviewee.

 

How important do you think film festivals are for independent filmmakers and what has been your experience with them so far?

They are important to make any project known. They are an accessible springboard for those of us who have a very limited budget to get our documentary to an exhibition space where we can find a programmer, producer or distributor interested in our work.

 

We have very little experience in festivals, only three years, but in that time I think we have learned something, you need a sales agent or distributor to reach the right audience through the right festivals.

 

Can you tell us about the awards or recognitions your films have received and how they have influenced your career?

El Paisaje del olivar (2021) was our first documentary that was submitted to a hundred international festivals and won 24 awards and 8 nominations. Most of them for ‘Best Direction’ and ‘Best Cinematography’.

 

‘The Spanish Horse: The Origin’ (2023) was submitted to 150 festivals, and won 28 awards and 11 nominations. It is certainly a satisfaction to be nominated at the Crystal Pine Awards in Croatia, alongside great masters and Hollywood stars in the same category, but it is also an opportunity to meet people who have the ability to make good films and create soundtracks that go down in history.

 

A great satisfaction, which also shows you that you have to take your work where it is valued, in our case, beyond our borders. Practically none of the awards you have won have been in Spain.

 

How do you deal with comments and criticisms about your films, and how do you use them to improve your craft?

We have received favourable reviews, and I imagine that more will come in time. It's too early to evaluate the criticisms because we are not so famous to have them.

 

What do you like most about the process of making films, and is there anything you find particularly difficult?

I like the fact that I can collect stories that concern us and leave my vision in a piece that becomes a documentary film and that this is recorded forever in the film libraries.

 

How do you approach the distribution of your films and what strategies do you employ to reach a wider audience?

That's our current task. We are receiving consultancy from Begin Again in that aspect in trying to learn as much as possible, the search for a sales agent or distributor to represent us at festivals. Without a sales agent it is much more difficult and time consuming.

 

What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers starting out in the film industry?

To understand that it is a vocational job, with a lot of sacrifice and effort, but it is a good way to tell stories that concern you and capture them in order to change the viewer's mentality on certain issues that are important for oneself, for a social good or a more universal one. The preservation of the mountains and their people is the central theme of our latest documentary ‘Mountains in Harmony’ (2024). Getting any of the challenges that are narrated to be solved is already a great success, not at the box office, but in terms of impact. 

 

Finally, could you share with us your plans for the future and your next projects as a filmmaker?

We are not going to stop producing documentaries on issues that concern us, capturing the testimony of those who have a lot to say but are hardly asked. Our next projects are aimed at continuing to learn and improve constantly.