Closer to the truth
 

PostED ON 16.10.2024

She doesn't believe that cinema can change the world but is convinced that a film can change the way we look at things. The portrait of a woman who defends her values. 

Icíar Bollaín © 2024 Epicentre Films

Icíar Bollaín became a filmmaker because she liked telling stories, under one condition: that these stories tell us something about ourselves. In this endeavour, she has sometimes been a step ahead, as in 2003 when she released Take my Eyes (Te doy mis ojos), the story of a woman, a victim of domestic violence, who finds the courage to speak out against it and then to flee. Her film helped raise awareness of a subject that was considered taboo. The strength of the drama lies in the fact that it eschews all portrayal of physical violence and instead focuses on its consequences and the reactions of those around the abused: a mother who accepts it, a son who stays silent, a sister who is incredulous. “It took me a long time as a filmmaker to apply a rule that seems simple: don't say things, show them.” The following year, a bill was drafted and passed into law, providing specific protection to victims. 

Icíar Bollaín © Morena Films - Mandarin Cinéma / DR

In cinemas, Take my Eyes found a receptive public, and the profession took pride in such an impactful œuvre. Icíar Bollaín’s efforts were recognised; the film was nominated for 14 Goya awards, winning 7 of them, including Best Film and Best Director.

Icíar Bollaín, who was born in 1967, began her career in front of the camera. In 1983, at age fifteen, Victor Erice cast her in one of the lead roles of his second feature film, El Sur (The South). The director had first auditioned Icíar’s twin sister, Marina, but “it was Icíar who had everything that was exteriorised, friendly and charismatic about the character”,  commented Erice, “… a depth to her gaze. An empathy”.

Ne dis rien d'Icíar Bollaín (2003) © Alta Produccion / DR

At that moment, however, Icíar was also interested in painting, attending the Madrid School of Fine Arts, while still making a handful of films, including anecdotal comedies. Then one day, she was offered a role in Ken Loach's film about the Spanish Civil War, Land and Freedom, co-written by Paul Laverty (who would become her husband and the father of their three children). Icíar played a militia woman in 1936 who witnessed the clashes between Trotskyites and anarchists in the republican camp. 

At 27 years old, the young woman did not share the English director's perspective of the events. She explained, “because I simply didn't know that part of Spanish history! At school, we were never able to study the civil war. It was in the textbooks, but we never actually learnt about it”. The fact that this major historical episode is still the subject of debate in Spain today demonstrates that there remains a great deal of ignorance.

L'Affaire Nevenka d'Icíar Bollaín (2024) © DR

The filmmaker's entire oeuvre would subsequently form a response to this ignorance, irrespective of the subject matter. They would all take on sensitive subjects that require research and documentation that can take up to two years before a single line of the screenplay is written. Icíar Bollaín has always used current events to develop her material for her dramas. Such is the case with Maixabel, released in 2021, about a woman who seeks to meet the terrorist who murdered her husband - or I am Nevenka, her latest directorial venture, the story of a courageous young woman in 2000 who succeeds in getting a politician convicted of sexual harassment for the first time, despite “the whole of public opinion against her".

That being said, Icíar doesn't like her films to be characterised as ‘social’ or ‘political’. “That's the way some people have found to marginalise them. Making films is about defending the values you believe in,” she says. “A lot of mainstream movies emphasise opulence: big houses, big cars, lavish weddings. And that's just as ‘political’, don't you think?”

Carlos Gomez

Master class
A conversation with Icíar Bollaín
Wednesday, October 15 at 10:45am at Pathé Bellecour
With the support of 

Screenings

Take my Eyes by Icíar Bollaín by Icíar Bollaín (Te doy mis ojos, 2003, 1h43)
Institut Lumière (Hangar) Tue 15 5:15pm | Pathé Bellecour Wed 16 7pm | Pathé Bellecour Sat 19 10pm

Even the Rain by Icíar Bollaín (También la lluvia, 2010, 1h44)
UGC Astoria Tue 15 8pm

Maixabel by Icíar Bollaín (Maixabel, 2021, 1h55)
UGC Confluence Tue 15 11:15am | Lumière Terreaux Wed 16 4:30pm

Avant-première

I am Nevenka by Icíar Bollaín (Soy Nevenka, 2024, 1h50)
Comœdia Mon 14 7:15pm

As an actress:

Land and Freedom by Ken Loach (1995, 1h49)
Comœdia Mon 14 4:30pm | Comœdia Wed 16 5:15pm