Anna Castillo (‘Wild Sunflowers’): “We normalized and romanticized toxic behaviors”

Jaime Rosales returns to the cinema with a social theme with “Girasoles Salvajes”, the seventh feature film of his filmography, which will be released in commercial theaters on October 14th. after passing through the Official Section of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival. A film that deals with the reality of a young woman and a single mother through her romantic relationships and her evolution as an adult. “It reflects toxic masculinity and how a young woman with few emotional and financial tools copes with it.as well as being the mother of two small children “points Anna Castilloits protagonist.

‘Wild sunflowers’ tells the life of Julia (Castillo), a 22-year-old woman who is the mother of two small children and who lives in the Nou Barris neighborhood of Barcelona. The film shows her evolution over the years and she does so through her emotional ties, telling three of her love affairs. The first is with Óscar (Oriol Plà), a conflicted and violent boy who will make Julia rethink her life; the second is with Marcos (Quim Ávila), father of her children, with whom she tries to resume the relationship; while the third is with Álex (Lluís Marqués), with whom she tries to take a step forward in her professional life.

The film exposes three different types of masculinity, all three having in common the toxic behaviors of meninviting (especially with the third case) to a debate on romantic relationships and on how the current generations continue to reproduce, despite the progress, sexist and patriarchal patterns.

“They are three love relationships in masculinity that are very toxic and my character doesn’t have many tools to deal with them. The three have molds that come from many years ago. For me, it comes from having normalized situations and having fictionalized very toxic behaviors that, at this point, day, today is when we start to see them more clearly “, Anna Castillo points out in an interview with eCartelerain which the importance of the irruption of the “feminism and deconstruction” when it comes to breaking down sexist and patriarchal behavior.

“There are things that cannot be tolerated and are detrimental to equality, but for me this is an inheritance and a portrait of current generations who have received attitudes from previous generations, which is a patriarchal and macho system, which envelops emotional relationships in a toxic circle. It is thanks to feminism and deconstruction that we are able to see the things that are not right”stick up for.

“We are living in a very interesting time as regards the evolution of the role of women”

“We, as a society, have a story. Yes, each of us has their own biography, but, in general, we have a story. What happened to our parents who, in turn, inherited it from our grandparents, Well it’s being broadcast. Now, I think there are some breakups too. I think today’s world is different from our parents and theirs was different from our grandparents. So there is that evolution. “, exhibits Jaime Rosales, who also points out that, from a cinematographic point of view, stories with female protagonists have taken overthese being more interesting from a narrative point of view.

“Fortunately, in my life, I am surrounded by women. My wife has only sisters and I have two daughters. I live around a female universe that has discovered things, especially after marriage. That is why it is very present in my films. I also think we are living in a very interesting time about how the role of women is evolving, which at the same time, its evolution causes a change in men. It is interesting to see how relationships change and how we humans adapt to them. In the end, we live in the same society. It is very attractive, natural and necessary “adds the director.

Add to this that the film is also narrated by a social perspective, as the protagonist is a woman who was a mother when she was a teenager, her parents are working class and she lacks the resources to carry on. “Part of the film was shot in my neighborhood and I think if I had continued to live there and had been a young mother, as well as having led a different life, there would have been things that would have taken me longer so for me Julia is not guilty. that I picked the wrong guy, because I’ve heard comments like that, but she is a girl who does not know that there are other options and that there is other information that can benefit her”Castle argues.

Directed by Jaime Rosales, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bárbara Díez, ‘Wild Sunflowers’ stars Anna Castillo, Oriol Plà, Quim Ávila, Lluís Marqués, Manolo Solo and Carolina Yuste. Produced by Manuel Monzon. A co-production between Spain and France between Fresdeval Films, A Contracorriente Films, Oberon and Luxbox. Available in cinemas from this October 14, by the hand of A Contracorriente Films.