The distribution of an inheritance acquired through a supernatural encounter, mires three sisters in a long standing conflict. Their arguments resonate through the thickets and seem to awaken the island’s long dormant volcano.
Title: La Hojarasca
Internacional title: The Undergrowth
Genre: Hibrit (Non-fiction/fiction) | Drama, Suspense
Estimated length: 72 minutes
Shooting format: 2K
Screening format: DCP Color 2K
Country of production: Spain
Original language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Produced by: El Viaje Films · Macu Machín
Production year: 2023
Release year: Berlin IFF 2023 (Forum)
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby 5.1
‘La Hojarasca’ is a film about ghosts, unexpected encounters and family reconciliations. It deals with two ways of understanding the world from the confines of the metropolis: my own uprooted point of view, through which I decide to tell the story of my family in order to understand my own roots; and that of the women in my family, who are not interested in trivial facts such as the history of their town, or even the origin of their family, but relate better to the supernatural.
The women in my family have a hard time expressing their innermost feelings, in relating to the world around them. The hard life in the countryside made them harden like the bark of trees and their children had to learn from their silences. Origin, memory, roots. Our inheritance is in their hands and it is up to me to build my story with what remains of my ancestors and those of others who were persecuted after the Spanish Civil War and who rest in the mountain that surrounds our house.
My intention is not to look for answers, but to accept their lack, to enter fully into the legitimate realm of stories where the memory of our ancestors invariably flows. I have woven my memory with the threads of fiction and reality, to form a seamless tapestry where dream and reality coexist naturally.
Macu Machín
Gallery
National Distribution (Spain): Pleamar Films: distribucion@pleamarfilms.com
International Sales: SplitScreen: lorena@splitscreen.hr
Con la financiación del Gobierno de España