Berlin film festival contender ‘Flies’ explores loneliness and unlikely bonds in Mexico City

BERLIN: “Flies,” a Berlin Film Festival competition entry, is a tale about how opening up to others could allow in something special, said its Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke.

“It’s a story about loneliness, about grief, about how to connect with other people,” he told Reuters ahead of the premiere.

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The movie draws a parallel with opening a window to let out a fly buzzing around your home - and inadvertently allowing something positive in.

“When there’s a fly at your home, when you open the windows, something special will happen,” said Eimbcke.

Shot in black and white, Eimbcke’s second film to compete for the festival’s top prize opens with Olga, played by Teresita Sanchez, who is trying to rid her Mexico City apartment of a pesky fly.

Facing an unexpected, costly medical procedure, Olga has to rent out her spare room to a stranger, who smuggles in his young son, Cristian. Olga’s settled, routine-filled life is soon interrupted, and she is forced to adjust to the child’s presence.

“Flies” is among the 22 titles vying for the festival’s Golden Bear top prize, which will be awarded at the closing ceremony on Saturday evening.

Mexican cinema is going from strength to strength, said Eimbcke, mentioning funding increases and the success of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.

“There are also Mexican films in all sections of the Berlinale, and more Mexican films will certainly be coming to the major festivals,” he said.

Working with a child actor

For “Flies,” Eimbcke said that working with a child actor, Bastian Escobar, made him adapt how he directed the story that he also co-wrote.

“He taught me how to direct. I adapted myself to Bastian. My job was just to observe,” said the director, who first came to the festival two decades ago with the Berlin Talents networking programme.

For Bastian, the experience was “really cool.”

“I had so much energy in those moments when I was acting, when the camera was on me and I was talking and moving around,” he told Reuters.