07/06/2017 - The widely acclaimed director of Coast of Death has just wrapped up the first stage of filming for his new project, with shooting set to resume in early July

“A village. Time seems to stand still. Everyone is frozen, while nature and animals move freely. Nevertheless, we can hear people talking and moving about, as if in some unknown dimension. It feels like being in limbo, surrounded by ghosts. Three elderly women (could they be witches?) are able to move between these two dimensions. They are trying to do something that we cannot understand.” This is the synopsis provided by Felipe Lage, producer of his brother Óliver Laxe’s Mimosas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Oliver Laxe
film profile] and of Lois Patiño’s latest project, Red Moon Tide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lois Patiño
film profile], as well as his multi-award-winning Coast of Death [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lois Patiño
film profile].

The film is a co-production between Zeitun Films and Amanita Films, both native to Galicia, and is supported by AGADIC. Filming has been split into two parts: from 15 May to 3 June (three weeks), in Monforte de Lemos (province of Lugo); and from 3 to 15 July (two weeks), in the Camariñas/Costa da Morte area of A Coruña. 

The crew includes Lois Patiño (director, director of photography and editor), Adrián Orr (assistant director, creator of the prize-winning Niñato [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Jaione Camborda (art director), Judith Cerqueiro (costume director) and Aníbal Menchaca (sound engineer). The leading actresses (all non-professionals) are Ana González, Carmen Martínez and Pilar Rodríguez. The rest of the cast is primarily made up of extras drawn from the local population. 

In Patiño’s words, Red Moon Tide, whose references include Alain Resnais (particularly Last Year in Marienbad)and Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire), Béla Tarr and Pedro Costa, “aims to intertwine fiction with a documentary and audiovisual essay. It will be a ghost story that takes place in a Galician town, with the mystery conveyed through an innovative narrative approach. It offers a reflection that begins with local concerns and then opens up, becoming universal in scope. We will focus on the way that we, the people of Galicia, relate to death and the myths of our culture. In the film, ghosts and spirits will coexist with present-day life within the space of the village. This will lead us to perceive time differently, wherein the instantaneous, the enduring, the repetitive and the immobile give an impression of greater temporal density. Here, the idea of time as linear is shattered, and we subscribe to Henri Bergson’s notion — that time extends and contracts.”

(Translated from Spanish)