'Robot Dreams', by Pablo Berger, brings Spanish animation to Cannes

Pablo Berger (Bilbao, 60 years old) likes to complicate his life. And his fourth film is the confirmation of both that love for artistic risk and his calm, necessary to face a project of the magnitude of the one he presents this Saturday in Cannes in a Special Session: Robot Dreams, his adaptation of the graphic novel by Sara Varon, the story of friendship between an anthropomorphic dog and a robot that he buys to keep him company in a New York of the eighties.

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Pablo Berger jumps into animation with 'Robot Dreams'

A few hours before his red carpet and his premiere, Berger jokes about the possibility of crossing paths with a Danish actor who played a supporting role in his debut in 2003 in the feature film: Torremolinos 73. That performer, Mads Mikkelsen, world star today, embodies the villain of Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny, also in Cannes. "It's going to be hard for us to cross paths," he smiles. And he begins to delve into why he faced Robot Dreams. "I read Varon's graphic novel [published in 2007] in 2010, and I was fascinated by it. Until I got to the end, which made me feel something else: I was moved. I went on my way, I did Snow White and Abracadabra, and there, in 2017, my producers asked me which one was next. I hesitated and remembered how powerful the story of Robot Dreams was."

Image from 'Robot Dreams'

The film takes place in the New York of the eighties – a city that Berger knows perfectly because he lived there ten years together during that time, with his wife, Yuko Harami – and stars Dog (in that world there are no humans, but anthropomorphic animals) and Robot, acquired by the first to solve his vital loneliness. "I always thought it was animation. I never thought about working in this genre, but I couldn't betray comics," explains the filmmaker. "I came to the cinema from the comic. It devoured them. Even my first short, Mama, was based on a comic strip by Philippe Vuillemin. Obviously, I like Miyazaki's animated cinema, I Lost My Body is one of my favorite films, I enjoy The Life of Zucchini. However, the engine was that I came across that book."

Between jokes and truths, Berger says that the eight-year journey to the premiere of Snow White – a silent film, with intertitles and soundtrack, which moved the story to bullfighting Spain – was more complicated than this five-year-old one. "For the support of my producers, Arcadia Motion Pictures. He never told them what to consider until I have something advanced. Here I passed them the comic and the script already complete, which for me is the treasure map. And they got the funding."

The New York of 'Robot Dreams'

Berger cared a lot about translating the ambivalence of Varon's graphic novel to film. Is it a story of friendship or love? Is it for children or for adults? "It is that we must not be exclusive, understand that all the readings are correct. The cinema is like a lasagna, the layers will end up being completed by the spectator". You can remember in these different visions and in the silent film to Snow White. " Yes, although now I wanted to talk about the fragility of human relationships. Since I'm an optimistic guy, I always believe that someone like Dog will find someone in his life." Robot Dreams will be released in Spain later this year.

From left, Yuko Harami, Pablo Berger, art director José Luis Ágreda and producer Sandra Tapia, this afternoon on the red carpet at Cannes.

The New York of the eighties has taken more prominence in the film version of Robot Dreams. In the comic the backgrounds are not so precise. Berger and his two right hands, his wife Yuko Harami, and José Luis Ágreda as art director, have meticulously constructed this third protagonist. "I was very concerned about being faithful, not making any mistakes or anachronisms. That decision to privilege the city gave me the final impulse and so Yuko and I have made our love letter to that city." When he returned, his friends from Bilbao like Álex de la Iglesia questioned his return. "I wanted to do my Iberian trilogy. And I guessed right. Now, as has happened with Bilbao, that New York is nothing like the current one." Mime is a trademark of the house. "That's why I make few films, because I believe in taking care of each film, and I have a lot of patience."

Robot Dreams has a French co-production, which has paved the way for it in France, and this week it was acquired by Neon for US distribution. "It's incredible, because they're the ones who carried Parasite or The Triangle of Sadness. I never did it for that, although it is true that not having dialogues serves as a commercial hook." And in this process, haven't you missed the actors? "Well, now I've worked with the animators. Doing animation is like creating a live-action movie in slow motion. It allows you to make decisions with more reflection." Of the whole film process, the one that attracts Berger the least is the shooting "because it takes away from the objectives". And he confesses: "It is the time that a film has matured at my pace, and, therefore, the closest to the one I dreamed of at the beginning of the trip."