Slamdance 2019 – Mudanza Contemporánea
Armchairs, mattresses, feet, blankets, arms, memories, mops, tubes or plastic dance, twist, fall, fly and break in this emotional choreography in which a man and his army of objects try to defeat a ghost from the past.
Interview with Writer/Director/Editor Teo Guillem
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
To be honest, I started doing it for and by myself, as a kind of therapy that helped me overcome a personal crisis. And I decided to make it into a film because I think the way the character overcomes his crisis is genuine enough to be shared with more people.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because it's weird, funny, sad, intimate and very sincere.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
A breakup, an existential crisis, are universal issues, sooner or later everyone lives one. But the way to manage it, is specific to each one, and it is there where the most personal is dealt with. In Mudanza Contemporánea, the character faces his tragedy from the most ramshackle creativity and uses that situation as a blank canvas in which to create without control. In this film feelings are mixed with objects and together they dance, spin and fight in an intimate and very particular choreography.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
It wasn't a planned film, it started out as a shoot that just helped me forget. And when I realized that this material depicted a person's grief in an abstract way, I began to assemble it by putting together pieces of my relationship and filming extra footage as I needed it. A very organic process, free and personal, always alive, from start to finish.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I am very happy with the feedback, considering that it is not a film with a conventional narrative, in general people have empathised with the film and in some particular cases have been very emotional. The homemade approach and comedy make people feel very close to it, I suppose.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Yes, once the film is out there, it is no longer yours and it begins to belong to the viewer and I love that. The interpretations are triggered and each one builds it in his own way. Some people identify the character as a ghost wandering around the house or a fighter struggling against the past, others tell me it's a post-apocalyptic or science fiction film. All these options make me see the film in a different way and make it endless. For me the important thing is that people take a trip with the character and perceive his joy or pain in an intimate and sincere way, everything else is interpretable and I love it.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Once you decide to release a film, I guess what you want is for the maximum audience to see it, diverse audiences, who can enjoy it or not and give feedback. It's the good thing about the internet and platforms like these, which help to discover and give visibility to more alternative projects that don't enjoy massive advertising.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I'm interested in anyone seeing it who can help make the film more visible. In Europe it has had a lot of diffusion through festivals and I would like that it could also expand its audience in the United States. I also like the idea that it can be seen in other circles not strictly cinematographic; dance, museum, schools, etc...
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Let people connect with what is told and how everything is narrated. Like it or not, but that somehow the public understands the proposal and as far as possible, enjoy it.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
The key point I guess is the form that the character adopts to represent his internal struggle and moves the viewer. Solitude and emancipation, love and dependence… Another important aspect of the film is to understand film as a way of getting to know oneself, to see oneself from the outside, as an exercise of intimate creativity, as a tool to open up and get out of a hole.
Would you like to add anything else?
Not really, as I think that is a film that needs to be seen rather than explained.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
As in Mudanza Contemporánea, I am still interested in continuing to explore human nature in its most genuine or particular forms, while at the same time I am interested in experimenting with narrative schemes and their infinite possibilities of expression. I am currently working on a documentary about a group of Catalan antique dealers and a man with a secret hobby and I would like to start a fiction in the near future.
Interview: January 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Mudanza Contemporánea
Armchairs, mattresses, feet, blankets, arms, memories, mops, tubes or plastic dance, twist, fall, fly and break in this emotional choreography in which a man and his army of objects try to defeat a ghost from the past.
Length: 19:37
Director: Teo Guillem
Producer: Carlos Pardo Ros
Writer: Teo Guillem
About the writer, director and producer:
TEO GUILLEM works in films, commercials and music videos. He starts Dvein, a director’s collective in 2007. His worked has been showed in MoMa (NY), Saatchi & Saatchi's New Director Showcase (France), OFFF Festival (Spain & France), F5 (United States), or ArtFutura (Argentina). Aside other awards and recognitions he has also been awarded with the City of Barcelona Award on Film (2012) and the Fine Arts Medal of San Carlos University in Valencia (2013).
CARLOS PARDO ROS is a filmmaker who forms part of lacasinegra collective, with whom he directs Pas à Genève, and Dvein, another director’s collective, and produces through Dvein Films. His work ranges from animation to non-fiction and has been shown at festivals such as the Seville Festival and Art Futura in Buenos Aires.
Key cast: Teo Guillem as Himself, Cristina Pérez as Herself
Looking for: film festival directors, distributors, sales agents, buyers, journalists
Facebook: Mudanza Contemporánea
Instagram: @_dvein
Website: www.dveinfilms.com
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Slamdance / Park City, Utah, United States