Jaione Camborda made history ten days ago by being the first Spanish filmmaker to win the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Festival. And she achieved it with O Corno, the first film spoken in Galician to compete in the official section. The second feature film by this 40-year-old Basque director and screenwriter based in Galicia is a story of sisterhood that vindicates female desire, motherhood and the right to abortion in a Spain in the seventies in which the patriarchal system was falling like a stone. about women who were trying to escape the control that others exercised over their bodies.
Starring the dancer Janet Novás, the film is set on the Illa de Arousa in 1971, where María works as a shellfish harvester, although in the town she is known for the dedication with which she assists other women in childbirth. After helping a minor get an abortion, she is forced to flee and crosses the border with Portugal through a smuggling route.
Does the origin of this story have anything to do with a case you knew about?
Well, it arises from a need to explore this capacity of women to give life and conceive, which was one of the uncertainties that suddenly occupied me. Also of those moments in which her body becomes the protagonist, either as a source of pleasure or pain. But above all it is a film that during the process has been the result of many testimonies. Apart from researching archives, I have spoken a lot with people who lived through that time and their testimonies have inspired scenes. I would say that it is a film with many true stories.
Why did you want to set it on the Illa de Arousa and in 1971?
For several reasons. I think that at that time childbirth was not yet so medicalized, there were many births at home. On the other hand, women were more linked to the land. She had more contact with nature. And then because it is the late Franco era, a dark time of prohibitions, especially control over women. I was interested in certain aspects of that time that dialogue with today because I believe that there are some aspects of that time that lurk and are even being given a speaker. And it's dangerous.
It talks about the historical context but does not make it evident, why?
It was important not to lose sight of the most human part of the story, I didn't want it to be something exclusively political. That existential part was the one that had to gain strength. And it was essential that the portrayal of that era of prohibition was in a non-explicit way to reflect on why the woman's body continues to be a source of controversy.
The initial sequence of preparation for childbirth has been much commented on. How did you conceive it?
For me it was important to approach it from a very physical place. I think that in the history of cinema we have seen it very situated in the psychological, I would even tell you in the hysterical, and always in the expulsive. And I was interested in showing all that previous moment, in which time is suspended between contractions. Especially women very connected with the body, with the mammalian part of creation. It was important to give it that space more fair to reality.
It is the first film by Janet Novás, who is incredible as María. Was it difficult to find her?
Janet is a contemporary dancer and I had already seen her previous work that interested me. And also her presence, her way of being physically in the world. I invited her to the casting along with other dancers as well. And she was born in a rural area, she has seen her family work the land and it was something that was close to the character. In addition, it had the potential to work with emotions and generate dramatic arcs that made me choose it.
Help among women is essential. Both in childbirth and in abortion.
I believe that sisterhood and those moments of intimate encounter and help have always existed among women. Female and intergenerational accompaniment was very typical in births and it seemed important to me to highlight it in a time of so much secrecy that forced this sisterhood to be almost for survival. And also highlight that aspect of a tribe or pack almost in which we are able to survive, to find the warmth and strength to move forward in contrast to the loneliness that the character finds at a moment in the story.
Diego Anido has a secondary but basic role as a magician.
He appears on a Saint John's Day in which Eros and Thanatos, passion, the carnal are mixed, and I thought it was beautiful, this figure that suddenly arrives and is something as inexplicable as human creation. He is a very versatile actor.
There is an increasingly feminine perspective in Spanish cinema with women who write and direct their own stories
It was time, although I think it is late that we are finally having the opportunity to create because we had not been given the opportunity. I think that we come to enrich and a plurality of views is necessary in cinema.
Which directors do you admire?
Fantastic Spanish films are being made. I really like Water, by Elena López Riera. Carla Simón is doing very powerful things, Clara Roquet... and those to come. There are many that are going to emerge in the coming years.
