The way Carla Simone portrays a child in her films is unique. We celebrated him in the promising debut A Summer to Remember, solemnly confirming him with the Golden Bear, which the Catalan director received at the last Berlin Film Festival for Peaches of Alcara. This particular film, recently released on the Cinobo platform, is not only about children, but about an entire family of peach farmers who are forced to sell their fields to build photovoltaic plants.

However, in our online meeting, Simone is holding her newborn son in her arms, so the conversation cannot fail to start with her interest in these little heroes. “Children almost never have the whole picture in front of them when it comes to “adult” affairs, so they develop a different outlook on life. To me, it’s very cinematic. Also, it’s interesting what we can see in the film from the point of view of children, but we remain and think like adults. My own position in the family has of course changed lately. Until now, I have been someone’s daughter or granddaughter. I’m currently in this “middle” space and I’m sure it will affect my work in the future.”

As in her first film, in Peaches, nature and the countryside are the setting in which the story unfolds. Although she was born in Barcelona, ​​from the age of six she grew up in a small village in Catalonia, which, according to her, determined her future outlook. “The plot of the movie is fictional, but I have uncles who grow peaches in Alcaras. There are many farmers in the area who have left their land because what they have been doing for centuries is no longer considered sustainable. But not only is agricultural production now passing into the hands of large corporations, but the whole way of life is disappearing. Parents no longer want their children to continue the family business and tradition, but to do something else and eventually leave their place.

Simone’s film is generally bright in atmosphere and tone, although the image that is being formed is only optimistic. “I really wanted to give a classic happy ending, but in the course of preparing the film, I realized that this was impossible. We really went to a demonstration of farmers (ps there is one in the story) and there we had a feeling of pessimism, we saw relatively few and elderly people. On the other hand, we “discovered” one of our actors there,” Simone concludes.