This cold Monday in Berlin has been pleasantly surprised by the warm reception of Tótem, the second feature film by the Mexican Lila Avilés which, pending the reaction that tomorrow’s screening of the Spanish film 20,000 species of bees will bring, has become one of the great contenders for the Golden Bear together with the delicious romantic story Past lives, by Celine Song. As he already did with his debut feature, La camarista, Avilés delves into the connection between human relations and interior spaces, filming a large house “with heart and soul” and a great female presence as a setting and the celebration of a double ritual: a birthday and a farewell.
That of Tano, a very sick man whose seven-year-old daughter, Sol, comes to visit him at his grandfather’s house to help with the preparations for the party. Her mother has left her there after buying her some balloons, a clown nose and a funny wig. Everything in the house seems to be in chaos. The grandfather attends to a patient who starts crying in the middle of the consultation. One of the aunts tries to make the birthday cake with the help of her little daughter, who won’t leave her alone, and the other aunt invites a healer to eliminate bad energy from the home. All while Sol waits her turn to see her father, whom she adores and doesn’t want to die, and asks questions about her grandmother’s death and the end of the world.
As her name suggests, Sol is an illuminating and central character in a choral story with very emotional scenes where humor is not lacking and that the likeable newcomer actress Naíma Sentíes embroiders, who has conquered the attendees at a press conference in which Avilés he was exultant with happiness. Both the little actress and the director have embraced at various times, causing great emotion and applause. “We are very happy to be here. Making this film has been a beautiful journey that deals with the social animals that we are as humans. And for this it was vital to find a group of extraordinary actresses and actors,” said the filmmaker between very expressive gestures .
She has referred to Naíma between laughs as a super sensitive “little body” and has stated that she was looking for a girl who had a great maturity and capacity for observation and listening like her. For Naíma, playing Sol has been very nice and she immediately felt that there was “a connection”. “I lived in a place where I could do what she wanted and that girl is like me at that stage. I love doing crazy things,” she has admitted.
“Today we have a full house in Mexico and Berlin” Avilés spontaneously commented, to later indicate that “in life we ??are so outside that it was important to build a film from within, from human ties”. The Mexican filmmaker has stated that it was essential that everything flow and shine as if it were a game and that she has sought a balance between performances by professional and debutant performers. “Diversity is a divine gift, a virtue that must be cared for, valued and respected”.
For the casting he had the help of the leading actress of La camarista, Gabriela Cartol, present in the room. “It has been a difficult job, but luckily we found a wonderful team. The process of making films is like painting, it is a base that changes and flows. And I had a lot of freedom, which is the word that every creator looks for,” he said. highlighted on a film with production between Mexico, Denmark and France.
The film is dedicated to her daughter: “I was a very young mother and for me this film was a gift to my daughter from the depths of my being,” she confessed without being able to hold back her tears. In the words of Teresita Sánchez, the actress who plays Cruz, Sol’s father’s caretaker, the key to making her character believable was freedom and naturalness: “Not pretending is something that we should all experience and the emotions in that habitat they grow, expand and live”.
For Montserrat Marañón, her role as Núria, one of the aunts, “was difficult to approach because she talks about intimacy, the everyday and I am a very gestural theater actress. It had to be a very natural job, always based on play. Lila is a director who is interested in bringing out what is inside your essence”.
Tótem is the only film competing in the official section that has been shown today and it still does not have a release date in Spain.
