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
Director: Macu Machín
Script: Macu Machín
Cast: Carmen Machín, Elsa Machín y Maura Pérez
Cinematography: Jose A. Alayón y Zhana Yordanova
Art Direction: Silvia Navarro
Direct Sound: Joaquín Pachón
Editor: Emma Tusell, Ariadna Ribas y Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Sound desing and mix: Emilio García
Original Music: Jonay Armas
Color: Manuel López
Executive Producer: Marina Alberti
Producers: Jose Alayón, Marina Alberti, José Miguel Viña, Jamie Weiss, Jairo López y Macu Machín
Berlin International Film Festival | Nominated at the Berlinale Documentary Award
Festival de Málaga | Best Spanish Film and Best Direction at the Oficial Section ZonaZine
MiradasDoc – XVII Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Guía de Isora | Best Film at Mirada Canaria Section
D’A Film Festival Barcelona | Un Impulso Colectivo Section
FICCI – Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias | Iberoamérica Oficial Section
Istanbul Film Festival – İKSV | Section Documentary Time
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival | Richard Leacock Award for Best Film
Filmtage Tübingen | CineLatino-CineEspañol
FICG – Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (México) | Mejor Dirección de Largometraje Documental iberoamericano
Documenta Madrid – Internacional Film Festival | Jury Award for Best National Film
‘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
