We talked to Mireia López, student of FX Barcelona film schoole winner of Subtravelling XII.

Today, it seems that we are all anesthetized because of the constant bombardment of information we have. In general, we have a hard time getting excited about a story. But yours succeeds. You've reached people.
Yes. I applied everything I've been taught here about visual language and photography, and I tried to integrate different elements that would give play to the background of the story. The subway counter, for example, symbolizes a little bit the countdown and repeating the same experience over and over again. It is something that happens a lot when you are close to a person with dementia. Also the arrival of the train, or the station itself. We chose that particular stop because of the decadent touch. It was missing tiles on the wall and we thought it symbolized very well those missing pieces. And above all, highlight the performance of the actresses, Cristina and Neli, who did a spectacular job.

Everything is very well integrated. On the other hand, every shoot and every production has complications, what would you say was the most difficult thing? How did you deal with it?
I'm telling you, the first thing was the masks. Shooting with a completely opaque mask was quite an important problem, because being such an emotional short film, we wanted the actresses to be able to show their faces at all times. Luckily, Judith came up with the idea of shooting with transparent masks, so we were able to reach the audience more.

Another complication was the noise. One of the conditions that Subtravelling has is that you can't enter with a big equipment to shoot, so we couldn't bring sound equipment. We had to shoot with direct sound from the camera, and then dub some things in post-production. The subway coming and going every now and then and people walking around were pretty big handicaps, but we were able to solve them well.

What did you learn from all this? Is there anything on a professional level that you think you learned from this short film?

To trust myself a little more. I wasn't sure about making this short film. It was Judith who convinced me. Sometimes I have ideas and I don't know whether to do them or not, because I don't know if they will be good enough or if I will have the necessary tools to carry them out. What I have learned is that, even if you have few resources or everything is not as you had imagined, you have to go ahead with the projects that motivate you.

And now you are going to South Korea, not only to do tourism, but you are going to the festival there to present your short film. It's a very good reward, but we understand that you won't be satisfied with that. From here, what's your next challenge?
I've been wanting to start a short film for two years now. It's about an abandoned cinema and how its owner struggles to revive it. It's quite an ambitious project that needs money behind it. I would like to be able to do it. Maybe I won't be able to shoot it according to my expectations but, even with less resources, it can be done. It also has a high degree of emotionality. It talks about the love of cinema.

To work in this you have to love cinema a lot. After four years of studying, we see that the insecurities are still there. If you look back and remember your first days at FX Animation, surely that fear was even more latent. What would you say to all those first-year students who are feeling all that now?

Well, don't be afraid. Let them do what really moves them. I am a clear example of this: before coming here I studied Primary Education and, when I finished my degree, I saw that this was not what really moved me. That's when I decided to study film.

So I would tell them: don't be afraid, because it can be done. And above all, tell stories that you really feel, because I'm sure that if you feel them, they will reach other people.

Thank you, Mireia. Thank you Mireia, is there anything else you would like to comment to those who read us?

I would like to thank all the teachers at the school who have taught me so much. I have been able to apply many of those things in this short film, and I know I will continue to apply it in the rest of the short films I make.

Mireia López, director of "El teu nom", the first prize winning short film at TMB's Subtravelling International Short Film Fest XII. Enjoy a lot in Korea! We hope to see you in future productions. And we are convinced that you will have a spectacular success in your future projects.

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