'Hezurbeltzak, una fosa común' is an experimental short animated film. Was the technical process complicated?
It was fairly simple. I just used Chinese ink and a nib. The backgrounds are blank. There is no decoration. I centred on what I wanted to say.
The images come thick and fast with no break. Was there a specific idea you wanted to transmit during the four minutes?
Yes but I wanted the message to remain ambiguous. The characters are not very well defined. The fact that the narration is not lineal, with no beginning middle and end, helped me create a story that was not automatically identifiable. I was looking to highlight the nature of the characters, the passivity of some, others that allow things to be done, the fact they are not moving…. It is a scenario in which characters appear, something happens, and you don't know whether they can defend themselves from what is happening to them or if they are just passive. I tried to appeal to the animal side of people, between whom there flows a primitive feeling of letting go, as if they were children, although what happens to them is a far cry from the world of children. Some of the characters are stronger than others; some appear to be below others. The creation of hierarchies is another feature I wanted to investigate.
This is your directorial debut. How does it feel to be among the prize winners at ALCINE?
It is wonderful that such a personal and intimate project should gain recognition, work that took so long and on my own. I don't have actors or scriptwriters. It's a privilege. It is incredible that people watch it and make it theirs.