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Screenwriter Eva Gamallo From Spain to LA |
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Eva, tell us about your short film África S.A. “It is fiction based
about a mistake I made in Gambia, Africa. In 2012, I was working with an
NGO in Gambia, and when I returned to Spain, I realized that I had
fallen into the “white savior complex.” Through humor, I reflect
on how this complex contributes to a distorted view of the African
continent and our own identity as white people, who often perceive
ourselves as “saviors.” It’s a form of self-criticism because I made
this mistake, and when I realized it, I was so angry and ashamed of
myself that I needed to do something about it. That’s where this
project, África S.A., comes from.” One of the common mistakes people
make about Africa is referring to the entire continent as a single
country, without acknowledging its cultural diversity.
Eva reflects on this, “Africa is not just one country, but a continent
with fifty-four countries and more than 1,500 different languages. The
cultural and traditional diversity of Africa is enormous. From Morocco
to South Africa, customs and languages vary deeply. To reduce the
continent to a single vision and a single country is a mistake that only
serves to diminish it.”
Eva started producing the short film on her own, “but now I have two
producers who are also part of the project. The short film is about
seven minutes long and features three generations of African actresses.”
It’s a topic with international reach, so Eva hopes the short film will
travel the world, be shown at festivals, in schools, and other spaces.
“With this project, I want to offer a different perspective of Africa,
and also question our vision as white people. I’ve already received
requests from people who want me to travel to their places to talk about
the film, about my mistake, and what I learned in the process.”
Another project Eva has put her energy into is Los Platiles de la
Teresa, a short film she wrote, directed, and produced, which
portrays the tradition of “taking the chairs out to enjoy the evening
breeze” in the streets of Andalusia.
“In Spain, especially in Andalusia, it’s very common for older people to
go out into the street around 9 p.m. to enjoy the breeze and chat. When
I was a child, I loved walking through the streets of my town in Granada
and seeing people gathered in small groups. I liked getting close to
them and listening to their conversations. That’s why I decided to make
a film about those women and have them take their chairs outside to
enjoy the evening breeze together. It was a wonderful experience. One of
the actresses was my mother, and the others were her friends.
We filmed for three very fun days, full of laughter and also some
tears,” she explains.
Eva wanted to revive the memories of her childhood when she would sit
next to her grandmother or her neighbor, while playing nearby.
She says, “It was a magical experience to be there with my mother and
her friends, listening to their stories. I started filming without
saying anything to them, and they just started talking nonstop. It came
so naturally. My mother and one of her friends had done theater, but
neither of them are professional actresses. It was so authentic. I
remember one of the women started crying during the conversation because
she had lost her daughter three years earlier, but we finished the
filming with laughter. She said she had not laughed in three years. It
was beautiful to see that change, all thanks to the film.”
Eva cherishes those memories, “This moment will stay with me forever,
just like seeing my mother act. It was very special.”
Another of Eva’s projects is her video podcast Granada es Cine,
in which she gives a voice to people in the film industry who either
live in Granada or are originally from the city, where she also grew up
(although she was born in Switzerland, as she is the daughter of Spanish
emigrants).
“My podcast is focused on film professionals from Granada. At first, I
thought there would not be many people, but suddenly a lot of them
appeared, and I thought we should get to know each other and join forces
to make cinema in Granada a reality. I started a video podcast,
Granada es Cine. I interview artists and technicians in the film
industry who work in Granada. Additionally, I want to showcase the
different locations in the city, which are beautiful and have a great
variety of settings such as, beaches, mountains, deserts, mines, the
city itself, and charming villages,” says Eva Gamallo. So,
what is Eva Gamallo most passionate about in her career these days? “What
I enjoy most now is writing and directing. If I work as an actress, it
is because someone calls me, but I don’t want that to be the focus of my
career. What I really want is to develop the stories I have in my head,”
Eva confesses. A
couple of years ago, Eva Gamallo traveled to the United States with her
then fiancé, Marcos Mas, for three months and returned married. “I
love America, and my husband does too, plus he has a lot of friends
there. He asked me, ‘Do you want to go?’ and I said, why not? If he had
asked me if I wanted to go to Canada, I would have said yes as well.
It’s not so much about the country or the city, but about the
experience. He is also a screenwriter, so we went there to sell his
films. It was an incredible experience. I studied at UCLA, I had a bike,
and I rode it around the city every day. It is so different from Spain,
and I found it quite dangerous the way people drive. The signs and the
roads are very different. I like to go to other countries, rent a
motorbike or a car, and explore and that is what we did. It was a
wonderful time, I met many friends, went to premieres, worked as an
actress, and it was an unforgettable experience,” Eva concludes.
Please take time
to visit
the
website
for Eva Gamallo or follow her
on
Instagram.
Please also take time to visit the
Instagram
account
for Africa S.A. #EvaGamalloEntrevista #EvaGamalloActriz #AfrIcaSA #RivetingRiffsMagazine #RivetingRiffs #CineEspanol #EntrevistaPelicula #ActrizEntrevista
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It
was in September 2019 when I last had the opportunity to sit down with
actress, screenwriter, director, and producer Eva Gamallo. On this
occasion, we discussed several projects she is currently working on,
including a fiction short film ÁFRICA S.A., a video podcast focused on
artists and professionals from Granada working in the audiovisual
industry, Granada es Cine, and a video podcast in which,
alongside her husband Marcos Mas (creator, director, and screenwriter of
the show) and Dani Niño, they approach the paranormal from a humorous
perspective, La Hora Fenomena.