Film Festival, Almodovar’s appeal: “Rejecting migrant children is delirium”

“My film is the answer to what in Spain is called hate speech but which also exists in the rest of the world.“. So Pedro Almodóvar on the occasion of the presentation of his film ‘The Room Next Door’ in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. At the center of his speech, the drama of immigration: “We all have, not only in Europe, big problems with emigration and even if in the film we talk about a personal case I would like to send a message. Seeing innocent and desperate children fighting to reach our borders, while governments send ships to push them back, is an act of pure delirium. It is stupid and unfair. What I propose is the exact opposite”.

But the Spanish director does not limit himself to denouncing rampant selfishness, and also broadens his gaze to the health of the planet, a theme also addressed in the film: “We live in a complex world full of dangers, even the issue of climate change is no joke. We must be very careful. The film is about a woman who is dying in a world that is also dying”.

Faced with this dramatic situation, Almodovar indicates the path of active resistance: “Everyone must show up, must have the courage to say enough to denialism and must do so in all the areas in which they operate”. “We must say enough because we are in danger: the planet is in danger and we can enter a much greater danger”, underlines the director to the applause of the room and of the actresses Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, protagonists of the film. As for the future, the director adds “I try to be optimistic. As one of the best novelists Almudena Grandes said, happiness is the best way to resist. And I can only agree”.