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Descubre el plan de unos padres para recuperar a sus hijos. © Sony Pictures

Ya está en marcha el rodaje de la comedia familiar “Mis Hijos Valen Oro”, una ópera prima de Susan Béjar. La película, basada en la francesa “Mes Très Chers Enfants”, de Alexandra Leclère, cuenta con un guion escrito por Béjar y Ángela Armero (“Si Yo Fuera Rico”).

En un pueblo de la Sierra de Madrid, Bego (Gracia Olayo) y Agustín (Antonio Resines) viven una jubilación tranquila entre recetas de cocina, su huerto, la peluquería y partidas de cartas con los amigos. Pero desde que sus hijos, Miguel (Alberto Olmo) y Carla (Clara Lago), se independizaron para irse a vivir a la ciudad, el síndrome del nido vacío parece haberse instalado en el matrimonio, y empiezan a darse cuenta, tristemente, de que sus hijos han empezado a olvidarles. Para colmo, los muy sinvergüenzas no acuden a la comida...

Ana (Luna Pamiés) and José (Alberto Olmo) in The Water. Elena López Riera: 'I just spent time with them as in a documentary, really, I was observing them. We just hung out together... we danced a lot, we ate together, we played and then we created because there's something that you cannot create just by writing the best script in the world' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight Elena López Riera’s mysterious The Water (El Agua) will screen at San Sebastian Film Festival later this month. When we spoke to Riera about her fiction debut that mixes the heat of first love between Ana and José (Luna Pamiés and Alberto Olmo) with the myths of southern Spain, she told us about the mythology underpinning the drama, which you can read about here. In the second part of our interview, we chatted to her about her filmmaking process.

Riera...

Luna Pamiés as Ana in The Water. Elena López Riera: 'For me, the way the main character tries to also transform these mythologies into her interest was the main point of the film' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight Elena López Riera's debut feature [film ID=40663]The Water/film] (El Agua) is a coming-of-age tale infused with myths from the writer/director's home region of Orihuela in the south-east of Spain. It stars newcomers Luna Pamiés and Alberto Olmo as Ana and José, teenagers embarking on first love in the heat of summer. With the weather threatening to break, a local myth about the river bursting its banks in devastating floods that carry off women the river has fallen in love with also hangs thick in the air. In a break from traditional narrative, the director includes documentary elements where women from the area tell the story of the myth in their own words.

The way that myth, rumour and fable can interplay with fact in the minds of small town communities flows through this engaging debut feature from Elena López Riera, which retains an air of the mysterious throughout. Set in the Spanish director's home region of Orihuela in the south-east of the country, the loose story revolves around the first love experienced by teenagers Ana (Luna Pamiés) and José (Alberto Olmo).

But there's another, altogether more ancient romance that runs through the minds of those who live near a river which periodically breaks its banks in devastating floods. According to local myth, the river can also fall in love with young women, who will find themselves filled with water and taken by the river when it is in spate. This story is presented, not just through the film's central characters, but in segments in which real-life residents of the town recount their version.