02/11/2009

In mid-October, Madrid-born director Iciar Bollaín started shooting in Bolivia and Mexico on her most ambitious project to date, Even the Rain. Produced by Juan Gordon for Morena Films, in co-production with Vaca Films and France’s Mandarin Cinema, Bollaín’s film, as usual, has a strong socio-critical element.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is that it’s written by UK screenwriter Paul Laverty, Ken Loach’s usual collaborator, who has penned works including The Wind that Shakes the Barley [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
interview: Rebecca O’Brien
film profile], My Name Is Joe and Carla’s Song.

Blending past and present, fiction and reality, the story centres on film director Sebastián and his producer Costa, who travel to Bolivia to make a film about Christopher Columbus. While there, they and their team get involved in the Water War, which took place in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba in 2000, in protest against the privatisation of the water system.

Even the Rain has a formidable cast, headed by Luis Tosar (Cell 211 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Monzón
film profile], Mondays in the Sun [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Mexico’s Gael García-Bernal (Mammoth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Karra Elejalde (Timecrimes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alejandro Miranda
interview: Nacho Vigalondo
film profile]), Carlos Aduviri, Raúl Arévalo and Emma Suárez.

This will be Bollaín’s fifth feature after Hi, Are You Alone? (1995), Flowers from Another World (1999), Take My Eyes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2003) and Mataharis (2007). Its €5m budget includes backing from TVE, Canal Plus, AXN, ICAA and Eurimages.

(Translated from Spanish)