The trailer of the movie "Robot's Dream"/new cinema
On the day the nominations for the Oscars are announced, there is a regular ritual: filmmakers film their reaction to the announcement, and in the case of receiving a nomination, they of course jump up and scream.
This year, the loudest and happiest shouts came from Paolo Berger, the director of A Robot's Dream, which received a surprise nomination in the longest animated film category.
This is an independent Spanish animated film, without dialogues and without voice actors, which nevertheless managed to start in the top five alongside "Spider-Man: Across the Spider Dimensions" and "The Boy and the Heron", at the expense of high-budget productions by empires such as Netflix and Disney.
"We screamed to the heavens, I have never been so happy," says Berger in a Zoom interview, which is taking place on the occasion of the release of the film here this weekend.
"The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was so impressed, that of all the videos when the nominations were announced, they chose to screen ours at the common luncheon for all the statuette nominees."
"Robot's Dream" deserves a nomination and also deserves an award - it is a unique and beautiful film, a real masterpiece, a kind of "eternal sunshine with a clear head" in animation.
It is suitable for anyone of any age, as long as they have a heart.
"Eternal sun with a clear head" in animation.
From "A Robot's Dream"/Arcadia Motion Pictures, Lokiz Films, Noodles Production, Les Films du Worso
Based on Sarah Varon's graphic novel, Berger presents a story set in 1980s New York.
As the name implies, the heroes are a dog and a robot.
The dog is a lonely puppy named Dog, who buys himself a robot to alleviate his loneliness.
They become soul mates and inseparable, but then something happens that destabilizes their harmony.
All they have left are their memories, and then they both ask themselves the biggest question of all, which Gina Rowlands already asked in "Another Woman": Are memories something you have, or something you've lost?
"Robot's Dream" answers this with extraordinary depth, both emotionally and philosophically and visually - we haven't seen a movie with so many details in a long time.
Every second of it is a feast for the eyes.
At the beginning of the conversation, I tell Berger that he must be tired of hearing compliments.
"We never get tired of hearing praise for our films!", he admits.
"The films are like our babies, so it's always fun to hear good things about them. For me, the film doesn't end when the director finishes working on it. At this stage, it moves to accept and gets a new life."
What is the nicest compliment you have received?
"Not long ago, I was at an awards ceremony in Spain. Someone came up and said to me, 'Your movie saved my life.' , sometimes it has to do with family and sometimes with friends, which is perhaps the hardest thing to lose."
How old was the youngest viewer to watch the movie?
"The film appeals to everyone. We screened it at the Cannes Film Festival and I saw older moviegoers, those who had seen every movie ever and enjoyed all the gestures and references in 'A Robot's Dream'. However, there were also screenings for children, and I saw a lot of three-year-olds who enjoyed themselves very much. , the graphic novel was not written for children, and I also created the film adaptation from an adult point of view. We did not compromise in any way. I made 'Robot's Dream' for one reason only - its ending moved me. If people come to the movie with their children, the ending will give them something to talk about him. Children may be used to the happy-and-style Disney, and here the ending is more complex. We made the film for the cinema. It is intended for the big screen, and I hope people will see it that way."
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"The film appeals to everyone - cinema mice and three-year-old children."
Paulo Berger/GettyImages, Carlos Albers
Berger was born and raised in the Basque city of Bilbao, then moved to New York to study film, and stayed there for many years.
He returned to Spain and now lives in Madrid.
His first feature film was "Tourmalinos 73", which was released about two decades ago, and was a great success in Israel.
The director came to Israel at the time to promote its distribution.
"The Israeli audience received me very well," he recalled.
"I have a lot of good memories from Israel and also many friends, and I am very happy that the film is showing with you."
This is also the place to point out that "a dream of a robot" is emerging in Israel before many other countries.
In America, for example, it will be shown this week in several special screenings in preparation for the Oscars, but it will not officially be widely distributed until the end of May.
Berger's second film was "Snow White", a silent black-and-white adaptation of the famous fairy tale, which was released in 2013 and many compared it to "The Artist".
Like him and like "Robot's Dream", it too was without dialogues.
"I wouldn't do 'Robot's Dream' if there was dialogue in it, it wouldn't interest me," he says.
"I love 'silent' movies, they are an experience that activates all the senses, and leave a lot of space for the audience. My favorite decade in the history of cinema was the 1920s, the golden age of silent cinema. The cinematic language was loose and poetic, and the cinema was close to ballet and opera. The transition to talking cinema was too fast."
Who do you look more like in the movie - the dog, or the robot?
"I am the dog. This is the first time that I am not working according to my original script but adapting a previous work, and yet - 'Robot's Dream' is my most personal film."
"Sarah, who wrote the graphic novel I based it on, loves dogs more than anyone I've ever met. She's now writing a series of books about dogs. She's had lots of dogs, and she has tattoos of her dogs. She volunteers at an association for stray dogs. She wrote 'Dream of Robot' after she had to put one of her dogs to sleep and felt guilty. It was hard for her to cope, and the book was part of coping."
"The Oscars are like football - you can't know who the winner is until the last minute."
From "A Robot's Dream"/Arcadia Motion Pictures, Lokiz Films, Noodles Production, Les Films du Worso
In addition to the dog, the robot and the city of New York, music is also like a character in a movie.
The song that accompanies it is "September" of earth, wind and fire.
Why did you choose him?
"You know why the movie is set in the 1980s? Because I wanted a scene where the dog and the robot dance in Central Park to 'September,' one of the most iconic disco hits of all time, and the 1980s was the golden age of disco. If you look at the lyrics of 'September,' they epitomize The plot of the film - a story that takes place between one September and another. The song repeats throughout the film for a simple reason: I think that whenever we have a significant relationship or a formative period in our life, we also have one song that symbolizes it. In the case of the dog and the robot it is 'September' and therefore we You hear it all the time in different forms, sometimes in its full version and sometimes in whistles."
You are from Bilbao.
Are you a fan of Atletico Bilbao?
"You can't be from Bilbao and not be their fan. Even though I left the city many years ago, my heart is always with Athletic Bilbao. I connect with what they represent - a small team with loyal fans. There are no stars, but there is a lot of pride."
It can be said that in the race for this year's Oscar, Hollywood's "Spiderman" is Real Madrid and "The Boy and the Heron" of the Japanese animation empire Ghibli is Barcelona, and "Robot's Dream" is Bilbao.
"Absolutely. I've made this analogy many times myself, but you're the first to make it for me. Thank you on behalf of Bilbao. Look, I'm clear that 'Spider-Man' and 'The Boy and the Heron' are the favorites to win, but the Oscars are like football - you never know who The winner until the last moment."
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