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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Spain

Lucas Figueroa finishes shooting Renaceres in the midst of the pandemic

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- The filmmaker reflects on how the health crisis will affect humankind’s evolution in this high-definition, highly aesthetic movie, which journeys around places rendered lonesome by the lockdown

Lucas Figueroa finishes shooting Renaceres in the midst of the pandemic
A deserted square in Madrid, in Renaceres (© Lucas Figueroa)

Juan Cavestany (see the news) and Hernán Zin (see the news) have both been making films in Spain during the coronavirus crisis, and now they are joined by the new feature by Lucas Figureoa (Viral [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), entitled Renaceres [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucas Figueroa
film profile
]
(working title: Renaceres a 8K). This multidisciplinary project comprises a documentary feature, a series, an exhibition and a literary experiment.

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Revolving around the landscapes and places rendered lonesome and desolate by the lockdown, the movie reflects on how traumatic historical events such as the one we have recently been contending with affect our nature as humans and our decisions, while simultaneously opening up prospects of hope and improvement in the future as life and normality start to return.

But it won’t all be empty cities, as the film was also shot in hospitals alongside health personnel, in the streets accompanying law enforcement officers and in residential neighbourhoods, zooming in on residents on their balconies and at their windows. And now that Spain is immersed in the so-called de-escalation, or the easing of lockdown measures, this generates no end of unique images of people socialising in a different way to how they used to before the pandemic, which is something that the film also portrays. Shot in 8k quality, at 60 frames per second (a standard film would unspool at 24 frames per second), it makes it appear as though everything is running in slow motion, as if we were watching a dream or a science-fiction flick.

The filmmaker – who mentions big-name role models such as Stanley Kubrick and Terrence Malick, as well as titles such as the Qatsi trilogy by Godfrey Reggio and Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992) – states: “I’m optimistic and a dreamer by nature. I like to cling to the grandeur of the human being, which can be glimpsed and observed at extreme times such as this. We are guiding lights, and we have seen that in the streets, and we wanted to capture it. The health worker applauding the policeman and the passer-by applauding the health worker are the most visual examples, but there are also neighbours who didn’t know each other before and who, across balconies, have managed to forge that natural bond that we have among us humans: we want to share our love, to be loved and to love.”

Renaceres is a Mr Monkey and New Frequency production, which boasts technical support for 8k cameras from Isabel Baselga (Catts) and post-production support from Sergio Salas (Scope).

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(Translated from Spanish)

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