26/09/2019 - Spanish filmmaker Miguel Ángel Jiménez gives us the backstory to his new film, Window to the Sea — a co-production between Spain and Greece starring Emma Suárez and set on a Mediterranean island

(© Lorenzo Pascasio)

Window to the Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Ángel Jiménez
film profile] is the new fiction film from Miguel Ángel Jiménez (Madrid, 1979), a director with strong links to the Basque country. Jiménez produced Alberto Morais’ documentary Un lugar en el cine (2007) and even persuaded Aki Kaurismäki to help him put together one of his short films, Las huellas. This week, he’s presenting his latest offering at the EITB Gala at the 67th San Sebastián International Film Festival. Starring Emma Suárez (unforgettable as Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile]), it was filmed in Bilbao and on the Greek island of Nisyros.

Cineuropa: How did this co-production between Spain and Greece materialise?
Miguel Ángel Jiménez: We knew that it would need to be a co-production with Greece, because we wanted to film on Nisyros in the Dodecanese islands, which is where the story originated. So, we went along to a co-production forum at the Trieste Film Festival (When East Meets West) and we approached three Greek producers. One of them, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, took an interest in the project, and we ended up becoming good friends. In the past, we have always worked in co-production with Georgia, Russia or France. Working with Greece was fantastic; we managed to get Eurimages to support the film and we’re thinking about doing other projects together, because they’re just great to work with.

There’s a certain solidarity between Spain and Greece…
Yes, at a human level; I feel like Greeks have more in common with us than with Italians. We’re on the same wavelength — I feel very at home there. I already knew Greece quite well, from filming Un lugar en el cine with Theo Angelopoulos. Then last year, while we were getting ready to shoot this film, I made a short in central Athens, Kafenio kastello. Throughout all of these experiences I have felt an enormous affection for the Greek people.

As we see in Window to the Sea, there are times when we are not fully in command of our own lives, and other people take a hand in our decisions — it’s one of the central themes of the film.
Yes; sadly I lost my mother to cancer, and I tried to do what was expected of me and to step in a bit too much. I like the fact that the film shows a different way — that the main character is her own person and makes her own decisions freely. We wanted to capture this sense of freedom, because even if things are really bleak, we’d like to think that these are the best moments of her life.

Did the original idea for Window to the Sea come from you?
Yes. I met up with Luis Moya, who co-wrote the film, and I told him I had this hankering to make a very simple, honest film about a woman who is ill and travels to an island where everything is OK and she feels happy. I didn’t want to make a Michael Haneke film, although I admire him a great deal; I wanted to do something very different. It was a long time before I could bring myself to work on the story, and later our director of photography gave us a prod and we sat down and finished the screenplay. Immediately after that we showed it to Emma; she loved it, and she was on board from the very start.

How do you stop such an emotive story slipping into tear-jerker territory?
I didn’t want to see very much about the illness itself or the end of life, which I don’t show in the film. I tried to keep a lid on the emotional side. There was the odd moment when I thought I had perhaps gone too far. I imagine that everyone who sees the film will bring their own experiences to it; some viewers will find it very melodramatic, whereas others will find it quite severe. My only hope is that it doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. I want people to care about María, the main character, and want the best for her. When they leave the cinema, I hope they feel an urge to call someone or take a trip. That’s what I would like the most.

Was making this film a kind of therapy for you, or a tribute to your mother?
I closed a certain chapter in my life in a very simple way. Fiction can be a salve, and it can bring us back to ourselves. In my case, it helped me and I feel better for it; making this film allowed me to process my mother’s death.

(Translated from Spanish)