Sara Fantova presents 'Jone, Batzuetan', a coming of age story that immerses the spectator in an emotional and familiar journey marked by a lack of communication and the wounds of the past.
This feature film, which is competing in the Festival de Málaga Official Competition, is based on a series of diaries written by the director's father when he was young
The director Sara Fantova has presented her debut film 'Jone, Batzuetan'-Jone, a veces-, a coming of age story that immerses the spectator in an emotional and familiar journey marked by a lack of communication and the wounds of the past.
At a press conference after the screening of her film, which is taking part in the Official Competition section of the Festival de Málaga, Fantova revealed that the script was based on a series of diaries written by her father when he was young. "When I read my aita's experiences I realise that I see myself reflected in part of them. And while we have made up as much as we wanted, we have also used literal phrases from these accounts to shape this story about love, family and the journey to adulthood".
Actress Olaia Aguayo plays the main character, Jone, a 20-year-old girl who experiences her first love during Bilbao's Semana Grande festivities, when she meets Olga. Jone lives with her younger sister and her father, who has had to give up work due to Parkinson's disease.
During the summer, she comes of age through a journey full of emotions and conflicting feelings such as euphoria and uncertainty. Aguayo is joined in the cast by actors Josean Bengoetxea, Ainhoa Artetxe, Olaia Aguayo and Elorri Arrizabalaga.
The story also deals with communication and care as key tools for healing and overcoming old wounds as well as dealing with the fear of loneliness and death. In this respect, Fantova argued that "the father's illness has allowed them to talk about the importance of emotional care in the family". The aim was to get them to accept the situation they were going through and from there to be able to communicate.
The main characters are unable to connect with each other due to family problems that become entrenched as a result of a lack of communication. "Father and daughter don't tell each other how they feel, what their needs and desires are, until they end up isolating themselves. However, the aim is that from this journey, father and daughter will gradually reconnect with a common thread that is based on nostalgia, but also on that feeling of being alive when you fall in love for the first time", explained the scriptwriters Nuria Dunjó and Nuria Martín.
Finally, Aguayo also stressed that the film is very real, not only from the point of view of the emotional story, but also from the context in which the story takes place, in the midst of Bilbao's festivities in August. All the cast agreed that the filming was executed in a very organic, easy and intuitive way because they were carried along by everything that was happening. In this regard, Fantova pointed out that she had a small film crew and, despite the fact that it was a solid script, the actors were very open to allowing chaos, love and chance to form part of the essence of the film.
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