This Sunday, hall 3 of the Cine Albéniz witnessed the premiere of the film ‘Los tonos mayores’, as part of the program in the Zonazine section of the Festival de Málaga. It tells the story of Ana, a fourteen-year-old girl who lives with her father Javier, a painter and art teacher. During the two weeks of her winter vacations, Ana discovers that through the metal plate she has on her arm due to an accident she suffered as a child, she is now receiving a strange message in Morse code.

The press conference after the film was attended by its director, Ingrid Pokropek, the protagonist, Sofía Clausen, and four of its producers: Iván Moscovich, Juan Segundo Álamos, Miguel Molina and Adán Aliaga.

The germ of this film can be found in the fantastic genre and in Argentine literature: 'I have always been interested in authors such as Jorge Luis Borges or Adolfo Bioy Casares, and I have tried to develop it from a cinematographic point of view in many of the short films I have directed', said the director at the press conference. And that is exactly what she has tried to portray in 'Los tonos mayores': an encounter between a certain realism, by filming the city of Buenos Aires, and a supernatural element, in this case the Morse code on a girl's arm.

Regarding the use of this Morse code in the story, the director assures that it is something that was in the script from the beginning: 'From scene one I already knew that Morse was going to appear, and that, in some way, was going to divert the film towards other directions. In one of my first short films, El chico eléctrico, there was already this link between the body of an adolescent and fantasy, something I wanted to continue exploring in this new story'.

The protagonist of the film is the young actress Sofia Clausen, who at the time of shooting was only 12 years old: 'It was my first film project and at first I felt a little scared, but thanks to the team I felt at home and I have learned many things from them. As I got to understand the film, because we were shooting in disarray, I discovered that I have a lot in common with Ana (the main character of the film) and that she could be one of my best friends'.

The project is a co-production between Argentina and Spain, but the initial seed of the film was born in Argentina: 'By chance we met at MECAS [Mercado del Cine Casi Hecho de Las Palmas], we saw 15 minutes of the project and we fell in love. It fits perfectly with our editorial line, domestic science fiction cinema, and we decided to contribute, not only the missing economic part, but also the experience and trajectory of our production company', explained the Spanish producer of the film, Adán Aliaga.

Ingrid Pokropek was born in Buenos Aires in 1994. She wrote and directed the short films 'Chico eléctrico' in 2021 and 'Shendy Wu: un diario' in 2019, among others. She is producer of the films 'Trenque Lauquen' in 2022, by Laura Citarella, 'Clementina' in 2022, by Agustín Mendilaharzyu and Constanza Feldman, 'La Edad Media' in 2022, by Luciana Acuña and Alejo Moguillansky, and 'Las poetas visitan Juana Bignozzi' in 2019, by Mercedes Halfon and Laura Citarella. 'Los tonos mayores' is her feature directorial debut.

'Los tonos mayores' premiered in Mar de Plata and last February was part of the official section of the Berlin Film Festival. In addition, it is pending to be screened at other festivals, but the intention, both of the producers and the director, is that the film will be commercially released in theatres.