Berlin, February 19, 2011
The day after 'Even the Rain' opened in the United States, the film was honored with the Berlin Film Festival Panorama section Audience Award. On behalf of the filmmakers, of 'Even the Rain' screenwriter Paul Laverty issued this statement upon learning that the film won the Audience Award in Berlin:
IT IS A GREAT HONOUR TO RECEIVE THIS PRIZE FROM THE PUBLIC AND WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THEM ALL FOR THEIR SUPPORT. WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK THE FESTIVAL FOR THE THEIR HOSPITALITY AND EVERYONE INVOLVED FOR THEIR HARD WORK AND KIN
DNESS TO US.
ABOVE ALL WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE PEOPLE OF COCHABAMBA IN BOLIVIA WHO INSPIRED THE STORY. MANY OF THEM FACED TEN YEARS AGO IN THE WATER WARS WHAT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS NOW FACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA. ORDINARY CITIZENS SICKENED BY CORRUPTION AND POVERTY NOW RISK LIFE AND LIMB FOR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS. WE SALUTE THEIR COURAGE AND THE HOPE THEY
GIVE US.
HOWARD ZINN, THE HISTORIAIN TO WHOM THIS FILM IS DEDICATED, ONCE SAID, "NOT TO BELIEVE IN THE POSSIBILITY OF DRAMATIC CHANGE IS TO FORGET THAT THINGS HAVE CHANGED, NOT ENOUGH OF COURSE, BUT ENOUGH TO SHOW WHAT IS POSSIBLE. WE HAVE BEEN SURPRISED BEFORE IN HISTORY. INDEED, WE CAN DO THE SURPRISING."
THANK YOU,
PAUL LAVERTY - WRITER
ICIAR BOLLAIN - DIRECTOR
JUAN GORDON - PRODUCER
About the Film:
A Spanish film crew arrives in Bolivia to make a film about Columbus in the New World. Idealistic director Sebastian (Gael García Bernal, The Motorcycle Diaries) wants to denounce the injustices of the past, focusing on exploitation of the indigenous people. Practical producer Costa (Luis Tosar, Cell 211), working on a tight budget, has chosen Bolivia, one of Latin America's poorest countries, to stand in for Santo Domingo because extras will work for only $2 a day.
After an open casting call almost degenerates into a riot, Sebastian hires outspoken Daniel (Juan Carlos Aduviri) to play the rebel Indian leader. But when the locals begin demonstrations against a multinational's plans to privatize water-even the rain-Daniel is in the thick of them, endangering the film's shooting schedule.
The thought-provoking screenplay by frequent Ken Loach collaborator Paul Laverty (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) cunningly parallels the Spanish conquest of the Americas with the modern spread of capitalism. This fascinating mixture of past and present, fiction and fact, features spectacular scenes of the period film within a film. Directed by Icíar Bollaín (Take My Eyes).
How did the Morena Films crew work with the Bolivian community in Cochabamba?
Producer Juan Gordon and director Iciar Bollain explain in this video. View the trailer for Even the Rain.
Read more about the award
Find Even the Rain in a theatre near you.
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