Santos#2, Work in Progress (2018)

• 74%
• 2018
• Anton Corbal

Oliver Laxe's second feature, Mimosas, screened at IFFR in 2017. Earlier, he played the lead in Ben Rivers' experimental fiction The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, screened at IFFR in 2015. This year, the director can again be seen in front of the camera, in Anton Corbal's debut long documentary. Having spent five years in Morocco, Laxe returns to Vilela to renovate his grandparents' dilapidated family home. Together with a small crew he films this Spanish village, hidden deep in nature, on 16mm. According to Laxe, this film-in-progress is like 'tutti frutti' - an experimental mix of images that illustrate his relationship to the village. Corbal films not only the filmmaker at work, but also the historic environment. The idyllic shots of the quiet countryside are not just for show but an essential element of what Laxe is trying to capture on film, namely the spiritual relationship between man and environment.