Cinema for me is…
Spain – Adrià Guxens Chaparro from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Adrià in 25 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words
Dreamer, artistic, ambitious, cinephile, curious, persistent, organized, thoughtful, responsible and passionate.
2. What are your 3 best qualities and your 3 worst habits?
Best qualities: Leadership, creativity and social skills.
Worst habits: I’m too workaholic, a bit stubborn and, sometimes, quite unrealistic.
3. What is your dream job?
My dream job is to become a writer-director, release my films worldwide and if one of them can eventually win the Venice Golden Lion better than better!
4. What do you like most about your country?
The warm climate is very nice and it allows us to spend a lot of time outdoors. One of the things I like the most to do in Spain is to wander around the old streets of our cities.
5. What is your favorite dish in your country?
“Pa amb tomàquet” is a very typical Catalan meal. It is basically bread anointed with tomato to which you add plenty of olive oil. Then, you can add whatever else you like, such as ham, cheese or tuna. It’s easy to made and tremendously delicious.
6. What is the word or the expression in your native language that you like the most and what does it mean?
“Espurna”, which is “spark” in Catalan. I like how it sounds, in addition to the beauty of what it represents.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
I visited some friends in London last February.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
I’d like to live in Ireland. I have been there twice and I have very warm memories. People were so friendly and the scenery was dazzling. I absolutely need to come back!
9. What does Europe means to you?
For me Europe is a big project shared by several countries, regardless of their languages or culture; it is a common identity and a set of values that unifies us in a single community. Hence, Europe is about setting our differences aside and focusing on everything that unites us.
10. What are the European values that you share?
I think I am a very open-minded person who enjoys meeting people from other places in order to learn from their language and culture.
11. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
For sure, Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. I remember I was little when I got to watch it at the local theatre and I got totally mesmerized. Still, when I rewatch it, which I do from time to time, I end up as speechless as the first time, wondering how a movie can be so good. Actually, it’s not only ‘Spirited Away’, but all Hayao Miyazaki’s movies that are superb!
12. What is your favorite cinema theatre and what do you like about it?
When I first moved to Barcelona I was very lucky to live in a student apartment right in front of Cinemes Renoir Floridablanca, one of the most important movie theatres in the city. It showcases films in original version (with subtitles) and it helped me expand my knowledge of world cinema, with a huge emphasis in European films. Now, although I don’t live there anymore, I still consider this theatre my favorite and I attend it as often as I can.
13. Where do you like to watch movies and on which platform (DVD, online, cinema, mobile phone, etc.)?
My favorite way to watch a movie is in a theatre, where you can get the most immersive experience due to the great sound and the big screen. However, both for economical reasons and lack of time I increasingly end up watching more movies online at the VOD platforms, plus I’m a regular user of the media library of my film school, where I borrow lots of DVDs.
14. Who is your movie hero?
I don’t have a particular movie hero but I admire all the people who fight to get their ideas in their movies, regardless of the financial constraints and the will of some non-artistic heads behind almost every production. It is very hard to release a film nowadays and all the effort people can put in making it fascinates me.
15. If you were a movie director which one would you like to be?
Definitely, David Lynch. I love all his movies, plus he has the most amazing hairstyle of the whole movie industry.
16. Briefly describe your favorite scene
One of the most powerful scenes I remember is from the unfairly criticized Stanly Kubrick’s final masterpiece: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. I am talking about the oneiric scene at the mansion where Tom Cruise’s character wanders around through a very surreal environment until everything stops and he has to face the leader of that occult cult with hundreds of people staring at him behind their masks. Everything Kubrick does is great, but I have no words to describe what he achieved in that sequence, using an effective combination of a baroque setting with a very minimalistic soundtrack.
17. What are the 5 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar, 2016) ES
Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015) GB
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015) GR
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, 2015) IT
Victoria (Sebastian Schipper, 2015) DE
18. Which is the film character that you most identify with?
It is not a particular film character but a very romantic archetype, the one of this person who is alone in the world with this very difficult life-changing goal and fights to achieve it, despite having all society against him. I consider that Jamie Bell in ‘Billy Elliott’ or Ethan Hawke in ‘Gattaca’ fit in this kind of role.
19. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
It’s very hard to pick only one, but I would stick to Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone. I find stunning how he is able to give the harmonica the entity of a character.
20. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
In order to have a movie you need a conflict and, hence, there are no happy films at all. Thus, it is very difficult to pick one movie to live in, although if I have to stick to one, I’d choose Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. I love his couple of melancholic and romantic vampires and I wouldn’t mind to share eternal life with them.
21. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
This is a hard one. But I guess if Woody Allen played me, at least we would have a big laugh.
22. Which talent would you most like to have?
I’d like to be more skillful at drawing.
23. What is your most treasured possession?
A notebook where I have written lots of ideas for films I want to make in the future.
24. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting to interview ‘Game of Thrones’ author, George R.R. Martin, when I was 20.
25. What is your motto?
If you propose something, however difficult it may seem, you can get it if you work hard.
