Natalia Solórzano Vásquez’s ‘Spells to Revive a Witch,’ About Mythical Fortune Teller Soralla de Persia, Gets Backing from Spain, Uruguay (EXCLUSIVE)
The hybrid documentary, headed to the Costa Rica Media Market, is produced by Costa Rica’s Sputnik Films. Her debut feature, “Avanzaré tan despacio,”...
Key points
- The hybrid documentary, headed to the Costa Rica Media Market, is produced by Costa Rica’s Sputnik Films.
- Her debut feature, “Avanzaré tan despacio,” premiered at IDFA in 2019 and her short films have found success at the Costa Rica International Film Festival.
- The hybrid documentary will become a “stage” where “different women invoke her spirit through memories, interpretations, and personal experiences.” Speaking with Variety, Solórzano Vásquez says she discovered Soralla “almost by accident” while researching women who had “appeared in Costa Rican media.” “I had never heard of her before, which immediately struck me.
- “The more I searched for Soralla, the more I realized I was also searching for all the women whose lives slowly vanish because no one thought they were worth preserving.” The director says the fortune teller made her think about the women in her own family, who belonged “to the same generation but lived very different lives.” “She represents the possibility of reinventing yourself, but also the price women often pay for stepping outside the roles society has assigned to them.” Murillo, who has known Solórzano Vásquez since university, says she has “always been fascinated by her ability to observe and make us observe everyday life with a unique combination of tenderness, humor, and critical insight.” “Soralla’s story gave us the perfect excuse to work together and explore a female character through a deeply performative lens, guided by a feminist perspective and a conviction we have shared from the very beginning: who we are today is nothing more than a reflection of who we once were.” Asked about how she feels about making a film about memory in Latin America at a time when films broaching issues of both personal and collective memory in the region have found great international success, the director says memory “fascinates” her because “it is always incomplete.” “We tend to think of it as something that preserves the past, but it also transforms it.” “This film doesn’t try to reconstruct Soralla exactly as she was,” she notes.
What happened
The hybrid documentary, headed to the Costa Rica Media Market, is produced by Costa Rica’s Sputnik Films. Her debut feature, “Avanzaré tan despacio,” premiered at IDFA in 2019 and her short films have found success at the Costa Rica International Film Festival. The hybrid documentary will become a “stage” where “different women invoke her spirit through memories, interpretations, and personal experiences.” Speaking with Variety, Solórzano Vásquez says she discovered Soralla “almost by accident” while researching women who had “appeared in Costa Rican media.” “I had never heard of her before, which immediately struck me. “The more I searched for Soralla, the more I realized I was also searching for all the women whose lives slowly vanish because no one thought they were worth preserving.” The director says the fortune teller made her think about the women in her own family, who belonged “to the same generation but lived very different lives.” “She represents the possibility of reinventing yourself, but also the price women often pay for stepping outside the roles society has assigned to them.” Murillo, who has known Solórzano Vásquez since university, says she has “always been...
Related on this blog
- Hilda Hidalgo Readies Third Fiction Pic, About Sexual Abuse, After Acclaimed Dramas ‘Of Love and Other Demons’ and ‘Violeta at Last’ (EXCLUSIVE)
- Sam Neill, ‘Jurassic Park’ Star, Dies at 78
- Colombia Adds Massive Soundstage as Bogotá Audiovisual Market Attendance Soars and ‘Narcos’ Star-Led ‘Rookies’ Cleans Up in Project Prizes