Catalan director Albert Serra to finish filming his latest film ‘Singularity’ in Lleida

Barcelona (ACN).-  Albert Serra has chosen a country house, in a small town in the Lleida Province (western Catalonia), to finish ‘Singularity’, his latest film. Previously, he and his team had been filming in Ireland. Serra, who won a Golden Leopard (top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival) in 2013 for ‘Story of my death’, explained that ‘Singularity’ is “completely fanciful” and that more than being a film, it is a “baroque installation” with mining as a common link. It has been chosen by the Ramon Llull Institute, the public body promoting Catalan culture abroad, to represent Catalan culture at the 56^th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia.

‘Singularity’ is a contrast between old and new images, Serra explained. The story takes place in the Thirties and is focused on industry and mining. “It has a much more elaborate plastic treatment than previous films, with more post-production”, Serra said. He has created an artificial world with a really choral production where fifteen actors work, all of them amateurs. “The key to the images is the mixture, you don’t know if they are real or not. It is a really baroque installation with five screens where many things are happening at the same time”, the director explained.

The film at the Biennale

The production will be released at the 56^th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia, which will run from 9 May until 22 November 2015. It will be a big format audiovisual installation, as part of the project ‘Catalonia’ organised by the Ramon Llull Institute. The aim of the Institute is the promotion and dissemination of Catalan culture and the Biennale “is a formidable place to show the creativity and talent of our land”, explained Damià Martínez, creations area manager. This will be the fourth year that the Ramon Llull Institute will have its own pavilion inside the ‘Eventi Collaterali’ programme. ‘Singularity’ was proposed by the art curator Chus Martínez and chosen from twenty different projects. It will also be shown at the Tate Modern of London, but just a part and only with one screen.

New projects

Albert Serra said that his next film will be focused on the contemporary art world and will feature Chus Martínez. It will be called ‘I’m an artist’ and, as he confirmed, he has it in mind for a long time. He has already written the plot but now he has to look for funding and, nowadays, “it is very difficult”.