En tu ausencia

The director says for this first film he gave his all, sold his house and spent $500,000 to make it with mostly non-actors in a beautiful part of Andalucia. Noel is good with the camera, with landscape, with improvisation, and with music, which he composed (he plays guitar). He uses simple elements, a mysterious man arriving with a broken-down car, a 13-year old boy missing a father, a flirty girl, a nosy postman--but the drama becomes quite complicated.

I'm not sure all the dots get connected or all final tragedies are necessary, but the ambiguous situation of the boy bonding with the man and the suspicious villagers feels original.

The director came to Spain (from where?) and settled in Andalucia 13 years ago to study Flamenco guitar. He has a recording studio, composes and plays multiple instruments, and also teaches music and drama in schools. The young actors in the film including his talented teen star Gonzalo Sanchez Salas, he trained in acting workshops for months before shooting the film.

'En tu ausencia' was in some festivals including Vancouver (2008) and Palm Springs (2009) but went straight to DVD in the US. It would be nice if Noel were able to make more features after this promising beginning.