This Friday, the latest feature film in the ZonaZine section, 'La Zona Vacía', directed by Valencian filmmaker Kurro González, was presented at the Cine Albéniz. Francisco Conde and Silvia Castellón lead the cast of this film that tells the story of Luis, an astrophysicist who leads an orderly life with Ángela. Everything changes when his new neighbours arrive with their daughter Iris. Overwhelmed by the memory of his childhood love, he tries to control his emotions towards the girl so that his life does not fall apart. Luis finds himself immersed in a descent into his personal hell, in which everything seems to lead him to make the most terrible decisions.

The director, Kurro González, the actor and producer, Francisco Conde, and the young actress Silvia Castellón attended the press conference after the screening of the film.
'The project came about a long time ago, when my son Teo, who is now 16 years old, was born. Fears then awoke in me and I began to be more aware of the news of paedophile networks and things like that. In an unconscious way, I use writing as a way to exorcise my fears, but I do it by always trying to find a spark of humanity in people considered monsters,' the director explained.

Regarding the use of colour and black and white, González wanted to explain the reasons for these aesthetic resources: 'First of all, I try not to make decisions arbitrarily, always taking into account what the film has to tell. Francisco's character always travels in a space of darkness and clarity, where there is hardly any room for nuances. I understood that this had to have an immediate visual translation with the black and white and the flashes of red. Furthermore, I am completely in love with German expressionism and black and white, there is something magical about it that fascinates me’.

Francisco Conde, main actor and producer of the film, emphasises that it has not been difficult for him to play his character: 'With a solid script, when we get to the most complicated scenes, the only thing I have to do is commit and give it my all. It is a very big journey on an emotional level, but I have enjoyed it a lot.

As for the cinematographic references on which he has based himself, the director assures that there have been hundreds, but the main one is probably 'The Pianist' (2001), by Michael Haneke: 'It helped me a lot to understand how to forge a conflict from the incommunication'.

Kurro González was born in Valencia in 1977. He studied Audiovisual Communication and, later, Film Editing at ECAM. He started out as an editor in television series, documentaries, commercials and a multitude of short films that earned him selections and awards at festivals such as Cannes, Tribecca, Sitges, Berlin... His first feature film as a director was 'La madriguera', for which he won the Silver Remi at the Houston WorldFest, a nomination at the Austin Film Festival and another for best new director at the ASECAN Awards. 'La Zona Vacía' is his second feature film that he also wrote, directed and edited.