Hernán Zin has come face to face with various military conflicts while making his previous, Goya-nominated documentaries Born in Gaza and Born in Syria [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], but never before was the enemy invisible like it is now, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, during which he has shot his new film, Madrid resiste. While making it, he closely accompanied seven anonymous heroes over the course of two months: among them are an internal medicine specialist in the intensive care unit, a fireman, an ambulance driver and a woman who rescues the pets of people who have died from coronavirus. “We’ve been shining the spotlight on the truly important people, those who we only really appreciate when we need them or when we’re sick. I think it’s interesting to look at what we normally don’t notice,” the Madrid-based Argentinian director tells Cineuropa.

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“It was also hard, emotionally,” Zin continues, “but I want there to be evidence of everything: this is going to come in handy when it comes to taking it all in as a society at some point.” His cameras and microphones had access to the protagonists’ workplaces as well as their homes: in total, around 30 hours of footage were recorded for each character. The subject matter filmed, among other moments, includes police checks, the setting-up of the makeshift hospital in Ifema and the disinfection of retirement homes. Two shooting units were involved: one focused on personal stories, while the other gathered contextual elements. “It took a lot of effort because, as a team of just 12 people in total, we wanted everything to be documented and for nothing to be missing,” continues the filmmaker.

“The most devastating aspects ended up being the old people’s homes and the tragedy of some individuals not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones who had passed away,” recalls Hernán Zin. “It’s been a slow-motion tragedy, which is also a challenge on the narrative level: people just remained silent when they came to A&E unable to breathe, and the streets were empty, a scene I had never seen before. Everything ground to a halt, and the virus gradually laid waste to everything. I hope it’s going to be a very profound film,” reflects the director.

During the shoot, the crew had to take adequate measures to protect themselves. Filming began on 16 March, but Zin had already been out on the streets with his camera before that, on 9 March: “I want to do the same thing as I did with my previous films: they are movies with an urgency to them, and I want the audience to see Madrid resiste soon because I think that sometimes the human dimension of this pandemic has not been fully understood. But when you see the victims’ faces, everything takes on a different dimension, and that’s my job: the film should have a social objective, and help in the process of collective mourning and the assimilation of something that we are still very perplexed about.”

Madrid resiste is a Doc Land Films production, which was made in collaboration with Gerardo Olivares (100 días de soledad [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]).