The Festival de Málaga's Solidarity Space in the Plaza de la Merced has hosted a meeting dedicated to reflecting on how film and literature deal with mourning, absence and preparation for death. The colloquium, moderated by the cultural manager Cristina Consuegra, was attended by the actor and director Miguel Ángel Muñoz and the writer Rosa Montero.
 
During the meeting, both shared their personal experiences of loss. Rosa Montero has acknowledged that her work has always focused on death: "I have an obsessive relationship with death. Most of you live life without thinking about death, except for a few people like me." The writer added that art is one of the most valuable tools human beings have to endure suffering.
 
This idea was shared by Miguel Ángel Muñoz, who explained that mourning has also been the driving force behind his latest projects as a director. "My main driving force in making this second film as a director was grief and how to deal with it," he said, recalling that in his first documentary, Cien días con la tata already dealt with the preparation for loss.
 
The actor also explained how his relationship with death has changed over time: "I have never been afraid of my death. I was very scared of the death of others." Muñoz said that a year and a half ago he began training in bereavement counselling, which allowed him to look at this process in a different way. "When someone leaves, the cycle of life goes on the same, but for you nothing is the same, and that makes me very angry," he added.
 
Along the same lines, Cristina Consuegra pointed out that when someone dies "the world goes on with a rhythm that is no longer yours", pointing out that mourning is a long-lasting process, something that Montero agreed with: "The grief, you have to be very clear about it, is very long. It's not to say that there aren't days when you're going to be happy and you're going to laugh, but you've lost part of the world."
 
The conversation also addressed the relationship between loss, vulnerability and love. Miguel Ángel Muñoz highlighted the importance of love in life, as well as "living many moments with our loved ones because when someone leaves, you lose them." For Rosa Montero: "The only thing you can do to stop pain from destroying you is to turn it into love."
 
On vulnerability, Rosa Montero commented that: "Loving makes you vulnerable and that sucks, but we can't choose not to love anyone ever. That is the living death." For Cristina Consuegra, vulnerability has been placed "in a very strange and uncomfortable place when it should be the opposite", almost as something that relocates us, "a grounding". Miguel Ángel Muñoz added that "there is something historic. Vulnerable people used to disappear before and as a society we have been dragging this down. We have a hard time showing our feelings," pointing out the importance of finding people to be vulnerable with.
 
With this colloquium, the Solidarity Space of the Festival de Málaga continues with its schedule that  will address issues related to children, equality, health, the elderly, violence and social integration, among others.