ROMERIA © QuimVives_ElasticaFilms
Romería (Romeria): Interview with Carla Simón
A third feature film for Spanish director Carla Simón. After Été 93 (Summer 1993) (2017) and Nos soleils (Alcarràs) (2022), both filmed in the middle of the Catalonian countryside, this time the filmmaker embraces her Galician roots, by mixing professional and non-professional actors. Rooted in the 2000s, Romería (Romeria) (presented in Competition) echoes her family story. Interview.
How did the idea for this project come about?
I think that Romería (Romeria) originated from frustration linked to my family story. My parents died when I was very young, both from AIDS. They were ruined, at a time — in the late 1980s — when it was unfortunately common in Spain. Many people died of overdose, AIDS, or accident-related circumstances, during a period that was very liberal, yet also profoundly impacted by drugs. That greatly affected families.
When I try to reconstruct the story of my parents, there’s always pain. I find it difficult to talk about it. So, I think the film emerged from this frustration. It’s a film about the importance of family memory: and about how to shape your identity. When you can’t shape your identity through others, you can invent it through creation. Cinema is there for that: creating images that don’t exist.
“This film is a way of creating my own story. And about being able to talk about where I come from.”
Isn’t it hard, sometimes, to go back to the past?
The way I see it, going back to the past is about putting things right. Emotionally, some things hurt, of course, but I think that in getting close to them, you grow. And that helps you, finally, to make peace with your own story.
For me, the most important part of Romería (Romeria) is how the story is told; it’s so painful for the family that it borders sometimes on secrecy, even shame. The protagonist wants to understand, but without idealizing it.
When preparing, we really tried to adjust the tone of voice, by asking ourselves: how can she tell this story without any prejudice, and without dramatizing it? Making films that reflect my personal life allows me to connect very deeply with the story I am telling, and that comes through on screen. With time, I learned how to approach these projects like fiction, by serving the story. Romería (Romeria), in fact, is a very fictional work, bordering on my personal life.
Was it important for you to film in Galicia?
I am Catalan on my mother’s side, but my father was Galician. This film gave me the opportunity to film on their soil: where he grew up, and where my parents experienced their love story. The places they went to are still there. People come and go, but spaces remain.
We filmed for the first time at the seaside in Vigo, an industrial city that has a very beautiful historic center. Every week, I felt like we were shooting a different film: Romería (Romeria) is almost like many films in one. There was one week in particular, which was very intense, with a lot of characters. That was our biggest challenge, but also the most beautiful because exquisite things happen when there are so many people to capture. And I love to capture these moments.