María Trénor Shares Debut Trailer for Her Annecy Main Competition Player ‘Rock Bottom’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Celebrated Spanish filmmaker María Trénor’s debut feature “Rock Bottom” will premiere in the main competition at this year’s Annecy Festival, and she has given Variety exclusive access to the film’s first trailer.
Produced by leading Catalan producer Alba Sotorra, the film is inspired by the life and music of U.K. artist Robert Wyatt. Trippy rotoscope animation interspersed with experimental segments tells a story set in the decadent 1970s in both New York and Mallorca. Wyatt’s album “Rock Bottom” scores a paradise-like beach story overflowing with art, flirtation, and recreational drugs. The film deftly weaves the fantasy experiences of Bob and his partner Alif in the two cities, creating a single time and place that could only exist in fiction. Or on a really good trip.
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Variety recently caught up with Tenor to discuss her feature debut ahead of its Annecy world premiere.
Variety: What was it about Robert Wyatt’s music that made animation the right medium for this story?
María Trénor: For two reasons: one economic and one artistic. The film is set in the early ’70s in Mallorca and New York, it would be very expensive in terms of budget to represent the spaces of that time in a live-action film. On the other hand, the film has many dreamlike scenes that represent the state of distorted reality that the characters experience when taking drugs and alcohol. Animation is the perfect medium since the only limit to representation is how far your imagination goes.
Congratulations on directing your first feature and having it go right into competition at Annecy. How long was the development process for this film, and then how long were you in production?
I wrote the script for Rock Bottom more than 10 years ago, just after meeting Robert Wyatt and getting the OK to make a musical film based on his album. From then until now, many adventures and ups and downs have happened until I met Alba Sotorra, a Catalan producer committed to films made by women who bets on different and original projects. It’s been exactly two years of production since I started working with her.
What references did you use for designing these characters, which were based on real people?
On the one hand, I was looking for very thin actors and actresses with big eyes. The characters in the film take drugs, and the people addicted to drugs are very thin because they hardly eat. But for the main characters, I had very clear references in terms of their physical appearance: Jane Birkin (almost all the costumes are inspired by her) because she is an icon of the time that is still relevant and represents the dichotomy between fragility and self-confidence at the same time. As for Bob, he is inspired by Kurt Cobain, who is also vulnerable and wild at the same time. Both artists whose image is already an everlasting icon.
How did you divide up responsibilities during production? I see you wrote and directed. Did you handle any other responsibilities?
I’ve written and directed the actors on set, I’ve been the art director, I’ve done backgrounds, I’ve designed the main characters, I’ve done compositing and shadows for some sequences, I’ve sung in a song that plays in the film, and I’ve animated the experimental films that the main character makes. Except for the animation in Toon Boom and the editing, I’ve done everything in this film. This film has been my life for two years.
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