Experiencing Interruptions?

Spirit

A collection of nocturnal stories in an unknown city based on anonymous individuals in the throes of a spiritual crisis, the result of uncontrollable consumerism and exploitation of the neoliberal model. A lack of answers - far beyond money and material goods - lead these characters to search for the hidden evil that inhabits the city and capture it in an empty bottle. This short film is an adaptation of a theatre play by the same name, and it is a mixture between the mediums of film and theatre.

  • Trinidad González
    Director
  • Matteo Citarella
    Director
  • Tomás González
    Director
  • Trinidad González
    Writer
  • Luisa Tupper
    Producer
  • Matteo Citarella
    Key Cast
  • Trinidad González
    Key Cast
  • Tomás González
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Espíritu
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    33 minutes 17 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 19, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Chile
  • Country of Filming:
    Chile
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Fundación Internacional Santiago A Mil
    Distributor
    Country: Chile
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Trinidad González, Matteo Citarella, Tomás González

Trinidad González is one of the founders of Teatro en el Blanco, a chilean theatre company directed by Guillermo Calderón, where she worked from 2006 to 2012, acting in "Neva" and "Diciembre" by Calderón and writing, directing and acting in "La Reunión". Her role as Olga Knipper in Neva won her the Altazor award in 2007 for Best Theater Actress.

She’s also worked as an actress in cinema and on television series. Her role in the series Bala Loca won her the Caleuche award in 2017 for Best Supporting Actress. She’s been writing, directing and acting in her own theatre plays since 2012. "La Reunión", "Pájaro" and "Carnaval" are the results of this stage. "Espíritu" is her first work in film with the co-direction of her theatre company Teatro Anónimo.

Matteo Citarella is a theatre and film actor. He is one of the founders of theatre company Teatro Anónimo that began in 2017. His participation in the theatre play "Democracia" from theatre and film director Felipe Hirsch, and the work with Teatro Anónimo, has lead him to perform in Portugal, Brazil, Holland, Argentina and Perú. Espíritu is his first work in film.

Tomás González is a music composer and songwriter. He has developed his musical work in theatre, whith Guillermo Calderón (Neva), Marco Layera (Paisajes Para No Colorear) and Trinidad González, with whom he has developed a long path with the plays "Neva", "Diciembre", "La Reunión", "Pájaro", "En Fuga No Hay Despedida" and "Carnaval". Espíritu is his first work in film.

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Director Statement

We believe this is an alarming moment in history. Exacerbated neoliberalism has created ignorant and fearful people, without a spiritual life, which, through the cult of money, fullfill their emptyness.

In a society obsessed with money and success, spiritual life appears like a great enemy: spiritual life means to be a conscious individual, responsible of himself and the enviroment, while the collective ecstasy around pleasure and consumption free the human beign of their individual responsabilities. The modern subject believes to be absolutely free because he enjoys a completely globalized world in his hands. He has everything he wants, but yet wants more. The delusion is very deep: the human being doesn’t notice the parlous poverty of its own spirit, wich makes him a complete slave of this sick consumption system.

Rose Luxemburg says: “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently”, but as capitalism has led us to a spiritual blindness, and also to a fierce fight about beign “the strongest”, we are not allowed to see and empathize with difference.

Making this film fulfills our wish to reveal a crisis that has to do with basic human values that have been put progressively aside by contemporary neoliberal society, where individual needs and anxieties have almost wiped out a broader sense of community. We feel compelled to deliver this warning through this film, and to glimpse an alternative by the simple fact of presenting this dark reality we are living in.

Also, it is very important for us, and for me (Trinidad González) to convey theatre and cinema as a terrain that complements on both sides. My theatre work has always been very influenced in movies. And as a company, since our previous play, our theatrical work has been very cinematic. What I mean by this is a very realistic acting, with no exagerated gestures, where the presence on stage has an intimate relationship with the audience, a very close experience between the emotions of the actors and the eyes of the public. We are committed to create a close up of their perception through an essential and sincere performance of the script. We want them to feel that what they are seeing is real. This is purely cinematic, and in our exercise to develop a film language, we didn't really change our way of creation. In the result of this particular work that mixes the mediums of film and theatre, I believe that there is something very new and interesting that hasn't a very clear definition. Something that is theatre and film at the same time, but not quite...something that conveys a feeling from both worlds to create a new format.

I don't feel my work to be mine, but the one of a group. This is why I feel that is a work of a collective. We have been working on this project since 2019, prior to the social uprising in Chile, and couldn't perform it as a live theatre show because of the political situation and later on because of the pandemic, so we filmed it at the end of 2020. As a group, in this particular work we have felt the need to communicate a dread feeling that the neoliberal system has laid on our backs, a ruthless system that became evident in the social uprising. We feel that presenting our work in film festivals, we can achieve our desire to broaden our reflection on looking for other alternatives of living. Hölderlin says “the man dwells this land poetically”. We want to give the audience a tiny light and ask them: How can we get back to live poetically in this world?