'Foreover Your Maternal Animal' stars Marina de Tavira, Oscar-Nominated for 'Roma,' who plays a self-involved poet and mother in Maurel's new film.
Costa Rica Scales New Heights With Cannes-Selected Filmmaker Valentina Maurel and ‘Forever Your Maternal Animal’ ‘We are getting over cinema where the focus Is always on male violence, misery, war, drugs,' says Maurel, who argues that the selection of her film, 'Forever Your Maternal Animal,' signals a broadening of space for Latin American filmmakers at major festivals, particularly for female directors.
” The film, selected for Un Certain Regard, follows Elsa , who returns to her home inafter years studying in Europe. There, she reconnects with younger sister, Amalia , who is drifting further into introspection as their parents prioritize their own existential preoccupations. David Letterman Slams CBS as 'Lying Weasels' for Canceling 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' Due to a 'Financial Decision'Maurel says she was “very surprised” to be selected for the French festival.
To Maurel, the selection is a “huge” accomplishment as it signals a broadening of space for Latin American filmmakers at major festivals, particularly female directors.
“I have the feeling we are getting out of a certain paradigm with Latin American cinema,” she adds. “We are getting over cinema where the focus is always on male violence, misery, war, drugs. It used to feel like we needed to justify our place by providing very violent stories or making films that felt anthropological, almost as if to explain the place we come from. This is boring for both Latin American filmmakers and audiences.
” The director emphasizes that “there is still a long way to go,” especially as there are no Latin American films playing in main competition in Cannes this year, but a healthier presence in other sections of the festival gives her “much-needed hope. ” Talking about the origins of her latest, Maurel recalls feeling “frustrated” about not being able to explore the character of the mother in “Electric Dreams,” which focused on the relationship between a father and daughter.
“I remember telling a journalist that my next film was going to be about a mother, and then it felt like I had to do it. Then I realized this is a story about how hard it is to be an artist while taking care of someone else. It comes from my own experience in life. ” “Maternal Animal” reunites Maurel with actors Daniela Marín Navarro and Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez.
One notable addition is famed Mexican actor Marina de Tavira.
“I wanted an experienced actress, because there is something about being a mother that is very difficult to portray without being stereotypical,” says the director of the casting choice. “I wanted someone who could give me a full palette and build a complicated character. Marina de Tavira is an actress I’ve long admired. She has the characteristic of also being an intellectual, which I really liked.
” Maurel, who currently lives in Europe and has financed her films through European co-productions, says she is not “yet ready” to make a fully European film and longs to continue to shoot in her home country.
“Maternal Animal” was shot in Zapote, the neighborhood she grew up in in the San José province of Costa Rica. When producers suggested she shoot the film in Colombia, Maurel told them it was “impossible” for her to make the film anywhere else but the place she grew up in.
“I wanted to have the Costa Rican audience as a priority,” she says. “I wanted the Costa Rican viewer to recognize the neighborhoods, to make the space coherent, and for the film to have a clear sense of movement. I wanted the characters to really run on the streets, to exist in this city.
” Following Cannes, the director will head back into post-production with “No One Knows We Play Today,” a biopic about football player Shirley Cruz, co-directed with Felipe Zúñiga.
“I think it is important to make as many films as we can,” she says. Steve Coogan and Tom Burke Excel as Undercover Agents in Netflix War on Drugs Drama ‘Legends’: TV Review‘The Travel Companion’ Review: A Bromance Goes Adrift in a Gently Wry Indie Amble ‘In Waves’ Review: Elegantly Animated Adaptation of AJ Dungo’s Bestseller Is an Unapologetically Conventional Tearjerker‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Review: Sally Field and Lewis Pullman Help Each Other Heal in a Melodrama of Distinctly Average Intelligence
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