We invent a new formula of making films

Maria Ripoll


"We invent a new formula of making films."


I read "Author/Auteur: Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist Film" and I was confused out of my mind until I found the director Maria Ripoll. My personal mission for this post was not simply to find a female director but to find someone to impact me, someone who would captivate me. After about two hours of googling and youtubing I found whom I was searching for. The first interview I was able to find was done by Cinema 3 de TV3, I was thrown off at first only to realized I understood most of what was being said; Catalan is closely related to Spanish. I was at a lost for words when Maria stated at the end "We invent a new formula of making films." What is this formula? First and for most language is not a factor in making a film successful. She takes language as a whole and imbraces it allowing people of different cultures to view and understand her films. As long as there is a message put across onto the screen, and she as a director takes this creation and makes everything come together in a strategic form, her mission is fulfilled.

In another interview (this one is in Spanish!) in the Ma'Laga 13 Festival Cine Espanol 17-24 on April 2010. She says that she is comfortable creating short and long films and so forth, simply because her passion is to direct people, manage staging, making costume and make up choices, anything and everything that has an impact on her work. Maria says that creating small documentaries or short films is a way of working under a constrained time frame. All of these works must explore in detail a problematic situation and how people carry themselves while dealing with their personal matters. She admits that it is not always an easy task but still strives to make things as close to perfection as possible. It is made clear that she takes these smaller project and later on sees if there is something bigger that can be formulated from it.


She has created many films one of which is entitled "Tu vida en 65' ". I can not believe I am admitting this, but I was almost in tears because of how beautiful the scenes are. Love is always a theme displayed in media but for the first time ever I found myself saying "Oh wow!" Maria directed the movie with such authenticity; the angles on the scenes, the close ups, the colors, the actors movements, facial expressions, the audio, the lights, the timing, the costumes, everything together creates her vision. Rather then write what was expressed in this scene, please watch it, if you do not understand Spanish, even better, just watch. Maria successfully makes you focus in on the main characters and the love they share for one another, nothing else is there except them and later the washing machine which symbolizes the clashing and alterations that happen in life. Things always become a mess but at some point, the machine that has been working you and tossing you every which way has to stop. When that stop presents itself, like the main character in the movie says, roughly translated, "... I found something that made us so, so, so happy that there really isn't a reason/purpose in living anymore."

Maria produced other films as well such as El domini de is sentits, Lluvia en los zapatos, Utopia, If Only, The Man with Rain in his Shoes, Twice Upon a Yesterday, Tortilla Soup and more. Why is Maria so important? It's because she is in control of bringing all the pieces together to expose an issue using techniques, she as a director, has perfected. She is, in a sense, the painter and the screen is her canvas. Maria is the creator, based on her judgement call things are placed in or out of a film simply because artistically she feels that how it should be; that is her vision. She is an auteur because she is aware of the power she possess and she uses it to express the suffrage of woman but also that of men. I feel as though Maria is wonderful and I plan on watching and promoting many of her films. Her story lines are great and the way she handles the camera is unique; she is not only a wonderful auteur but a talented woman who is determined to tell and produce a story the right way.

Images:

http://www.sofacinema.co.uk/guardian/images/products/9/11449-large.jpg

http://www.latidofilms.com/images/img/img181.jpg

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWYj8gVdgZU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kPjdDlV-is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGsYnGMdmRM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ykc23-sJNI&NR=1