Diana Toucedo's Thirty Souls will have its world premiere at the Berlinale
After a suceesful career as an editor, Diana Toucedo presents Thirty Souls, her debut film as a director in the Berlinale, at the Panorama section. The film was shot during 5 years in the Galician Mountains.
The orginal title refers to 30 hearths, a part of the Galician region where they do not count inhabitants but fireplaces.
Thirty Souls (Trinta Lumes)
In O Courel in Galicia, Spain, the dead dwell amongst the living. The film opens with images of a deserted mountainous region and picturesque villages over which a female voice begins her narration. But from the outset, her documentary commentary should not be trusted. Suddenly, images of people’s faces loom into extreme close-ups as the inquisitive camera begins to observe their everyday rituals. This is a community for whom tradition is shrouded in myths and legends about wolves, the undead and missing women – and All Saints’ Day is by no means the only time when these phenomena put in an appearance. But the film also shows us a more down-to-earth side of life in O Courel, as we learn the proper way to pluck a chicken, work with slate slabs, collect chestnuts to sell, or how to hunt and skin a wild boar. In her composed and beautifully observed film, director Diana Toucedo deliberately sets up red herrings in order to blur the border between real village life and invented stories, religion and superstition, true histories and dramatised ones. The dead are amongst the living, and some of the living have suddenly disappeared.
Diana Toucedo is a director and editor based in Barcelona. To date she has edited 16 feature-length films, the most successful of which has been La noche que no acaba (All Night Long), directed by Isaki Lacuesta. The film premiered at the 2010 San Sebastián film festival and won numerous awards at international festivals. As a director, she has made short documentaries and experimental films. Trinta Lumes (Thirty Souls) is her feature film debut. She also lectures in editing, including on the post-graduate programme at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Filmography
Light being. Ser de luz (Shortfilm, 2009)
Three times, three gestures (Shortfilm, 2010)
Secret images. Imágenes secretas (Shortfilm, 2013)
In all hands.En todas as mans. (Documentary film, 2015)
Men. Homes (Shortfilm, 2016)
Black body. Corpo preto (Shortfilm, 2016)
Thirty Souls. Trinta lumes (feature-length, 2018)
Port Desire. Puerto deseado (feature-length 2019)