Daniel Sánchez Arévalo: “My biggest dream would be that after seeing the film people want to sign up for a rondalla”

2024-01-15 12:36:05

What stories can inspire a film? For the filmmaker Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, at the helm of works such as Dark blue almost black, Cousins o Those in the last row, those “that make my skin crawl.” And this was what she felt when for the first time the executive producer of Bambú Producciones, Ramón Campos, showed her the video of the performance of the rondalla Santa Eulalia de Mos covering the song Thunderstruck by AC / DC at street level. Months later, this sensation has become the synopsis of his new feature film: Rounds, whose script is practically finished and for which he has soaked for weeks in the culture that surrounds these bands. So much so that he attended the group’s rehearsals, looked for locations in Vigo and its area for filming and even mingled with the audience that attended the area’s rondalla competition held yesterday at the Ifevi.

What was it that you saw in that video that made you say outright, here’s a story?

The feeling it left me. I was working with Ramón on another project and he told me, look at this video, which was also a very homemade video, on the street, and it left me fascinated. My hair stood on end; It was the mixture of seeing something so traditional, so Galician, such as the costumes, the bagpipes, the percussion, castanets… and suddenly something so hard-hitting, so modern, so rockin’ that it really caught me. Ramón told me why don’t we make a movie about this? And nothing more was needed. My head started to work and above all, for me, the desire I had to film in Galicia, in the north, since I am from Cantabria, really pushed me. Furthermore, filming in a place you know less is a way to soak up another culture. It’s very stimulating.

He was clear about the marked popular nature of the film.

That was the approach, yes, to make a film with a clear popular character in the good sense of the word, a film for the public that is here, which is very diverse. There are people of all ages and it is something very nice to be able to transmit it and share it. The idea is to try to make a popular, family film and also follow the tradition of the best British cinema of the Full Monty type. We are going to tell a story with a background where suddenly this part of the rondallas that is deeply rooted in local popular culture reaches viewers.

Daniel Sánchez Arévalo. MARTA G. BREA

Precisely that did not put him back a bit, that the rondallas are very local, from a very specific zone or area.

Quite the opposite. I think that without having any idea I saw it and it caused this impact on me, I understand that it can also cause it to anyone. And starting from something very local is the way to reach something universal.

How can we avoid falling into that somewhat negative, or even mocking, connotation that is associated with Galician traditionality?

It is true that if you say the word rondalla it may sound a little old, archaic, but of course, after watching that video I have seen dozens and dozens more and they all fascinate me equally and not just the one in Santa Eulalia de Mos, the one in Pontellas , Atios…, and how they adapt traditional themes and it’s brilliant. This is a bit of what I’m trying to do, to overturn the preconceived idea you may have of a ‘what a lazy’ show when it’s pure emotion, pure spectacle and pure fun.

You really came to like them, didn’t you?

I am happy to be able to be here in this contest, it is 4 hours, 15 rounds; I am very excited and I am sure that they will inspire me for aspects of the script and the story. We filmed in the fall and although the film has already been written, I’m adding things as I watch the rehearsals for the rondallas. They have been rehearsing since September and I am reviewing them, I am choosing phrases, details, little things that I see as interesting for the script and that are useful for filming so that what you tell later has a lot of truth. I want that later, when they see it, any rondalleiro feels identified. For example, the main rondalla of the film, removing five main actors, I want the rest to be real rondalleiros.

Although Rondalla is the epicenter, Galicia and in this case the Vigo area also has a very important weight in the film.

The entire environment, its natural beauty, has prominence. You don’t have to force anything, even today is a very leaden day but for me it is beautiful filmatographically. In the end this story takes place between September and January, the rain and the weather is part of the charm of the area and then, for me, I really wanted to film in this area. I’ve been coming for a year now and it’s hard for me to choose where to shoot. There are many areas that I love, from Vigo to the south.

I was talking before about modernizing the rondallas; Can the traditional not survive without this change?

I think we have to respect the traditional, keep the memory alive, but also evolve. Covering AC/DC or Queen, I think it respects tradition but gives it a twist that attracts young people to maintain it. My biggest dream after people saw the film is that they want to sign up for a rondalla, which until now they didn’t even contemplate.

After several series, he returns to the cinema again. With so many platforms and users, is it easier to sell a project for them than to adapt it to film?

I let the stories prevail. When he approached me with this story, I didn’t know if it could be a series or a movie, but there is something when I start thinking about the plot, it fits me more in one format or another. And then also my desire to return to the movies, to the movie theaters. I come from two Netflix projects, and I am very happy, but I have always believed a lot in going to the movies and I want to support the movies.