Guillermo Asensio

Original title
ANAGAMA

Running time
61 minutes

Genre
Documentary

Themes
#human_interest #arts&crafts #portrait #gender_roles #identity #ethnic_diversity #pottery #scotland

Production countries
Spain / United Kingdom

Status
Finished February 2024

World premiere at
BIG SKY Documentary Film Festival. Montana (USA)

European Premiere
available

Filming locations
Scotland. United Kingdom

Original language
English

Subtitles
English / Spanish

Aspect ratio / resolution
16:9 / 4K (3840x2160p)

Produced and directed by
GUILLERMO ASENSIO

Executive Producer
EMMA DARBY

Anagama
An ode to stillness, beauty and nature.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Scotland by her adoptive British parents, Chen su li (Nancy Fuller) is searching for her place in the world. When she discovers the ancient Japanese tradition of wood fired ceramics in an anagama kiln, her life shifts into focus and her path out of the shadows begins to take shape. Nancy Fuller has become a key figure in British ceramics and regularly exhibits with the most prestigious galleries in the United Kingdom.

Director’s statment

Anagama is a must-see film for all of you who feel dissatisfied in the hyperactive and fast-paced modern world; for all of you who feel a vital need to reconnect with the tangible world, with nature and with yourselves. I've made this film in the hope it'll leave its mark on you and make you reflect on your own aspirations as well as the troubled society we live in.

In a globalized, industrialized, digitalized world dominated by tech and artificial intelligence, where the taste for the perfect, the smooth, the homogeneous, the clean, the white and the uncritical prevails, the story of the potter Nancy Fuller is an oasis of authenticity, beauty and peace.

Showing at festivals this year. Stay posted for updates.

IDFA Docs for Sale: Anagama by Guillermo Asensio
By Nick Cunningham - 15 November 2023
businessdoceurope.com

The 62-minute Anagama, directed by Guillermo Asensio and screening in Docs For Sale, delivers very effectively (and quite exquisitely) on a number of levels.

The film tells the story of artist and ceramicist Nancy Fuller who has struggled with her identity since she was adopted at the age of five. Born Chen Su Li in Taiwan, she was brought to Scotland as a child, but for the past 45 years has never felt she has fitted in anywhere. On a return journey to Taipei, however, she discovered pottery, and especially the process of firing within an anagama wood-firing kiln. For Nancy, this discovery was transformational. As she explains in the film, wood firing has a level of complexity that can take a lifetime to master, and therefore demands a lifetime of devotion, which she is more than willing to give.

On another level, the film demonstrates, in acute detail, the processes of preparation, production, firing and cooling of Nancy’s lovely bowls and vases, which can at times resemble delicately ridged amphorae. Nancy’s processes of self-reflection are played in counterpoint to the creation of one such vessel, from its inception to completion.

On yet another level, the film offers audiences, across its three chapters, a deliciously cinematic, meditative and auditory experience, with an internal rhythm that allows for strong emotional engagement with its subject, and a palette of autumnal colours that warm the heart.

“Anagama is an antidote to the hyper-accelerated, hyper-stimulated and very turbulent world that we live in,” says exec-producer Darby, herself a ceramicist. “It’s an ode to beauty, stillness, and nature. It’s a story that deals with identity in a conflict, and looking for a place in the world.”

“It is a really observational film,” adds director Asensio. “It’s very sensitive and I think its strength is the visuals. We worked on this documentary like a fiction film, from the storytelling to the musical sounds. There’s a narration, there’s her own voiceover throughout the film. But you learn a lot of things just through the images, with the metaphors, with the pottery, with Nancy’s life.”

Darby concurs: “We see this woman at work, we see her contemplating her own work, we see her walking the dog, we see her in nature. For her, this connection with the land is very important. We see the animals, we see the context that she’s working in. So it really is a very meditative film in that sense…It’s a point of stillness and it’s a calming film to watch, but at the same time it’s compelling.”

Darby and Asensio are at Docs for Sale to raise festival and broadcaster interest in Anagama, and to secure sales representation. From Darby’s perspective, the film is equally suitable for theatrical or small screen.

“The film needs to be seen. It is very cinematographic, so from that point of view it would be fantastic to see it on a big screen. But it can just as easily be enjoyed on a small screen. We’re talking about small things, so it’s about observation, it’s about contemplation. It needs to be watched when somebody’s in a frame of mind that they’re able to sit down to focus on it, because it really is a film to meditate and relax to – and to just enjoy the making of these enormous jars. But at the same time, it is a film that will generate a lot of questions in your mind.”

Original title
The Hero Myth

Running time
102 minutes

Genre
Musical documentary

Nationality
Spanish (Catalan)

Release date
January 2021

Filming locations
Catalonia (Barcelona, Santes Creus, Orpí)
Hungary (Budapest)
Switzerland (Rehetobel)
India (Bangalore, Munnar, Kerala)

Original languages
Mainly English, but also Spanish, Catalan, Hungarian and German.

Subtitles
English

The Hero Myth
An unscripted musical road movie with a tragic ending.

The legacy of an enigmatic instrument maker who seduced musicians, music lovers and even a film crew with his unconventional ways and unique multi-stringed violins. This unscripted musical road movie takes you from Catalonia across to Switzerland, Hungary and India to discover the extraordinary music that the owners of these violins play. But as the musicians reflect on friendship, life, death and their art, some unexpected details emerge that call our charismatic hero into question.

Who are the main characters?

Paul Giger is a Swiss violinist and composer. He plays contemporary classical music, jazz, and free improvised music. He has released six CDs on the ECM label and collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble, Jan Garbarek, Pierre Favre and many others.

Zoltán Lantos appeared on the Eastern-European jazz scene while studying at the Music Academy in his hometown, Budapest. But shortly after earning his degree in classical violin, Lantos embarked on a remarkable musical journey. Drawn to experimental and eastern music, he traveled to India in 1985 to study classical Indian music.

Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. He has collaborated with Zubin Metah and Yehudi Menuhin among others. His brother Lakshminarayana Shankar is known for his work with Peter Gabriel.

Ernesto Briceño, born in Venezuela and currently living in Barcelona, is a flamenco violinist, orchestra conductor, world music researcher and teacher at various schools.