free Generation Reporters

Las Niñas is a film in this year’s Generation program with a strong young female protagonist first becoming aware of the world’s inequalities between boys and girls and its injustices. It is set in the 90s in Spain. I was lucky enough to get in tough with the films director Pilar Palomero and ask her a few questions: freie Generation Reporter: Can you tell me a bit about the background of the film? Pilar Palomero: The film is not autobiographical, but a lot of my childhood experiences have flown into Las Niñas. A few years ago, when I was thinking about making a film about my education, I found my notebook from my religion class in grade 6. I read an essay, which is exactly the one that appears in the film, where the nun explains the girls sexuality. At the first moment I laughed at the thought of what kind of education we got but then I started to realise how contradictory it was. It was 1992 and they were talking to us about sexuality, chastity and only having sex in the marriage...

„How do you know god exists?“ Spain in the 1990s. At a Catholic school for girls, Celia finds herself on the threshold to teenage life. Slowly she and her friends get into first contact with alcohol and parties, listen to music together, smoke their first cigarette and get tips from teen magazines. However, this is resolved lovingly and gently. No excesses, nothing too dramatic. These are the first experiences of a twelve-year-old. Especially the new girl in class, Brisa from Barcelona, influences Celia. They have a lot in common, but at the same time Brisa cannot identify with the strong Catholicism, something Celia has never questioned. This lets Celia’s world crumble. She begins to question circumstances that she had previously taken for granted. A first tender rebellion begins. At home, the otherwise very intimate relationship with her single mother turns out to be increasingly difficult. Celia begins to demand more and more information about her family's background, even he...

How do you deal with it when your little sister dies? When she no longer wakes you up at night because she's cold? What if she's simply not there anymore? Just gone. It is this difficult situation that Mamá, Mamá, Mamá captures. The film intentionally focusses on the kids, leaving the feelings of the adults out for most parts of the film. Quite some time passes before we see the mother of the girl that died for the first time. She is mourning behind closed doors. Cleo, however, is contemplated intensively. The camera observes her sitting between her cousins with life going on, but she keeps to herself; needs time. Her sister’s death is only hinted at by artistic scenes, in which the pool is explored as the place of misfortune. However, it is never explicitly mentioned. The first scenes of the film are fragmentary. The viewers need some time to grasp the picture. But this composition makes sense. The process of mourning ist not linear, it happens in bits and pieces, you ...

Freitag, 08.02.2019, 15:30 Uhr, Eröffnungszeremonie. * Anna-Lou Langsam verstummen die mich umgebenden lebhaften Gespräche. Die Lichter des Saales erlöschen und meine Blicke richten sich erwartungsvoll auf die noch leere Leinwand. Verschwommen erscheint der Umriss eines goldenen Bären, der sich wirbelnd tausend anderen Bären anschließt. Miteinander verschmolzen nehmen sie die Form einer strahlenden sich drehenden Sonnenkugel an, die sich langsam am Horizont verliert und plötzlich explodiert. Ein Bären-Big Bang, das sich funkensprühend auf der ganzen Leinwand ausdehnt. Gebannt sehe ich zu, wie diese Funken eine glitzernde Bärengestalt formen. Die flackernde Leuchtschrift „69. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin“ trifft mich wie ein Schlag. Die Berlinale, ein faszinierender, bislang unerreichbarer Traum, ist im Begriff, wahr zu werden. Dienstag, 7:52 Uhr, Friedenau. Carlotta Puh! Ich stehe in meinem Zimmer unter meinem Hochbett und habe gerade die Shaun-das-Schaf-Weckermusik ausgemacht...