“I was always trying to find this equilibrium between improvising and following the script”: Carla Simón on Golden Bear-winning Alcarràs

Alcarràs is the second feature film from Spanish writer-director Carla Simón. It follows the story of a peach-farming family in rural Catalonia who face a crisis when the landowners plan to turf them out to use the land for a solar farm instead. The news sends the extended family spiralling in different directions from one another, with each set on a different idea of how to go forward.

With a strong evocation of place, each scene using non-professional actors oozes from the screen sun-drenched fields, sweat dripping on tanned skin and the smell of ripening peaches. A particular delight are the young children for whom the farm is a giant playground, and while they are peripherally aware of the tension bristling amongst their parents, their carefree existence is a pleasure to behold.

The film was the much-deserving winner of Berlinale 2022 Golde Bear in an award ceremony dominated by female talent.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking with Simón in Berlin about how Alcarràs shares the personal roots of her 2017 debut Summer 1993 but with a fictionalised story, casting and working with non-professional actors, how the film combines family drama against a political backdrop, and what it meant for her film to be in competition at Berlinale.

Sarah Bradbury

Alcarràs does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2022 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch a clip from Alcarràs here: