The video for Nowness “In Residence: Casa Gilardi” is your first film about architecture. Tell me about your formation. How did you arrive to this film?
I work mainly as director for commercials, music videos and my own short films. My background is fine arts and graphic design. The film is a commission by Nowness through the production company I work with in Spain and Mexico STORY:
How do you approach architecture and what do you think about Luis Barragan?
To be honest I didn’t know Barragan or his architecture before working in the project. Architecture is not one of my main field of interest but I must admit that I felt captivated from the very beginning by his work. Given my graphic design background, the colors, the shapes, the angles, the geometry is something that catched me and was the starting point for the project. Now I am in love with Barragan’s work, when you experience it live, when you experience the space and not just in photographs is just amazing.
You used to film people or moving objects. For a film maker, It’s unusual directing what it’s usually the background scene. How do you approach static subjects? Is this restrictive for you?
The project characteristics were somehow restrictive, of course, not only because Nowness have their own guidelines but also because of the space itself and the nature of the project. But restrictions is something I am used to, specially in advertising projects. Also I think in a way restrictions are good, they give you some rules, a framework, so you don’t loose yourself in a wide range of options. But I always try give my vision to every project I do inside that given frame work, that’s the challenge.
In this architecture, the wide material surfaces are quite significant. What is the role of light and colors in this film and in your works?
In this case I was obsessed with framing, geometry, composition, capturing Barragan’s architecture in the frame like it was a painting by Malevich or Mondrian. Another idea was how architecture and life merges, the interaction between light, color, volumes and space as a metaphor of the relationship between the house and its owner. Most people will say that someone shapes the space of their own house based on their character. However, what if your own house shapes you as a person? What if your character and your whole life has been affected by the space you’ve been living in in the same way light have an effect on color and shapes in order to create a sense of space? In the case of Casa Giraldi and Martin and his family they have absolutely respected the architecture, the space and Barragan’s work. They didn’t adapt the space to them and their lives but the house shaped them and their lives. I hope that idea is present in the film.
You have a graphic design background. It’s evident when you prefer the sculpture and design objects in framings. What is the link between design and architecture for you?
I am a graphic design lover but not specially expert in architecture. With this project I discovered that combing graphic design (or a graphic sensitivity or vision) with space through filming is very close to architecture. One could say that and architect is a graphic designer in the space and film is a really good way to capture that.
The moving geometric solids in your films are inspired by surrealism. You often create references with Dalì or Magritte. Who are your art-models?
I am also an art lover. I don’t have specific art model. I am very much into contemporary art but I think surrealism allows you to combine things, stuff that doesn’t seem to fit together with great and surprising results, I think is just a way to catch or surprise the viewer.
Are there any other works about static subjects or architecture in your future programs?
Not specifically but in a way I think the space and how characters related with or in a specific environment is a constant in my work. Now I am finishing my new film Santa Ana, shot in the California desert where the Santa Ana winds blow. It’s kind of a follow up of my film Tramuntana.