‘The walls speak’ and Spain says goodbye. On February 3, the theatrical premiere of the documentary film by Carlos Saura took place, a reflection on the origin of art and the artistic drive. A week later, the director from Huesca passed away at the age of 91, just one day after Goya Awards are held in which he will be recognized with the ‘cabezón’ of honor. Saura now will not collect the statuette of the Spanish film awards, but he will be more than present at the gala, to which his family will attend on his behalf. Her presence was already in doubt, however, due to his delicate state of health, delicate since the fall suffered last September and that prevented him from personally attending the San Sebastian Festival to present his latest work.
The documentary, shot in 14 locations —among them, the Cuevas de Puente Viesgo and Altamira, in Cantabria; the Atapuerca Site, the Museum of Human Evolution and the Live Paleolithic Safari, in Burgos; and in several streets of Madrid and Barcelona where graffiti is the protagonist—, proposes a trip to the origins of art that connects prehistoric cave paintings with street art more recent, and in which experts such as Pedro Saura and Juan Luis Arsuaga and artists such as Miquel Barceló and urban creators Suso33, Zeta or Musa71, among others, participate.
In an interview with the EFE agency, Saura explains that it is a project that was born from José Morillas, the scriptwriter himself. “I have always been fascinated by art and man and his evolution. When I was little I was punished for being a Darwinian at the convent school, the teacher said to me one day ‘Let’s see, Saura, do you really believe that man comes from monkeys?’ And I told him ‘And from much further on’ and he took me out of class”, he recalls. The ‘The walls speak’ project already seemed “precious” to Saura from its beginnings, although at first “it was more focused on the origins of art” and gradually evolved “until the final result.
In ‘The walls speak’ Saura states “that art and the creation of art They are part of the essence of being human.no matter how many years go by, no matter how much the times or fashions change”. Saura himself recalled how in his house “the arts were always encouraged”, since his mother was a pianist. “Although he never wanted any of the brothers we dedicate ourselves to that because he said it was too hard. Little by little I developed as a photographer, I went to the Granada festival as an official photographer and there I began to move in the world, but I would never have imagined directing more than 50 filmshaving directed opera, theater, having done photo exhibitions, having published novels… you know, in old age, smallpox”.
“My first time in the cinema was to see ‘Snow White'”
Saura then remembered his first encounter with a movie theater in Barcelona, where they had gone “fleeing from the war.” “The first movies I saw were Walt Disney’s.. The first full movie I ever saw was “Snow White” and the ones with Pluto and Mickey Mouse. Later, when we went to Huesca, French silent mystery movies were shown at school; For a child like me, in that Spain so grey, so destroyed, it was a fascinating experience that captivated us all, and I have been lucky enough to be able to dedicate myself to it”.
The director was already aware that it is becoming “more and more difficult to make the movies” that he wanted to make —”Now commercial cinema prevailsthe cinema of platforms and for television”—, much more difficult to finance. Of course, the “various fiction projects” that he hoped to do this year will remain in a drawer. In this interview, probably the last one he gave before he died , he recognized that he had never made a film “to please nobody or to receive recognition”but because he liked it, because through it he could “tell the stories” that occurred to him, “play with the music”… “But of course, It is always a compliment that the work that one does is seen by peoplethat makes them think and that they appreciate it”.
However, Saura he was not concerned with the legacy left behind him. “I have hundreds of drawings, hundreds of fotosaurs, negatives of my photographs… I don’t even fit in my studio anymore, but I don’t care because I I do it because I have fun, when I die that they do what they consider. What I feel most proud of is my seven children, six boys and one girl.”
Carlos Saura, on the Goya of Honor
One day after the Goya de Honor was delivered to him, Saura will not be able to pick it up in person, although his family will. However, he had some words about it a few days before he passed away. For Saura, it is a “great joy that all his colleagues” decided to award it to him. “I am very grateful to the Academy and especially to Fernando Méndez-Leite, a great friend and colleague for this recognition, although, as I always say, the prizes are nothing more than an incentive to continue workingyou don’t have to believe them a lot,” he said.
Meanwhile, another of the things that remains to see the light is his biography, which is being edited by Elsa Fernandez Santos. ‘You also live with images’ is the story of Carlos Saura, on which he himself had worked many of his last years.
Source: Lasexta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
