“This film can be a good cult film and reference for people in the world of rap and music. freestylebut I have the hope that it will break the mold and become a new The Ball or a Neighborhood“, says Toni Carrizosa during the filming of Noisewhich takes place in the industrial Parc de l’Espanya, in the Barcelona neighborhood of Sants and a few meters from the train station that bears the same name.
The producer of the phenomenon House in flames, and El Terrat series such as The other side by Berto Romero or lost faggot by Bob Pop, promotes together with Filmin the first film by director Ingride Santos, winner of the Goya for best short in 2021 for Beef, a work where urban music already had a plot weight in the plot. Carrizosa refers to those two mythical films of Spanish cinema because in them the protagonists were not, in principle, professional actors but young people from peripheral neighborhoods who immersed themselves in a fictional world with a lot of reality. In the case of Noisethe producer argues his enthusiasm: “It will be the first film whose protagonist belongs to the second generation of migrants and who lives on the outskirts of Barcelona.”
The protagonist Carrizosa refers to is Latifa Drame, Lati, a young actress with no previous experience, Afro-descendant and Muslim, who was born in Moncada i Reixac, a town in the Vallés Occidental region close to Barcelona and where the train line leaves literally in two. “I recently read the data that in Catalonia 30% of those born in 2023 did not have a Spanish mother,” Carrizosa points out to give relevance to Lati’s prominence. “They are already a reality that will soon be given even by the Mossos d’Esquadra, but that in Spanish cinema is invisible,” the producer complains.
Latifa Drame, a cockfighting bomb
“Noise “It wants to be an urban film that talks about neighborhoods and new urban music from the reality of the street,” says Ingride Santos, its director. Santos assures that he intends to make “a documentary fiction film, but with very careful photography,” for which he has Beatriz Sastre, responsible for the image of films such as The rose wedding. She explains that for years she has been interested in the street environments where young people develop freestylea variety where the rapper does not write the rhymes, but is distinguished by his ability to improvise on stage.
The, and in this case the, freestylers They compete among themselves in the so-called “cockfights”, where the contestants take turns verbally skinning each other using their wit to insult and denigrate the opponent. A cinematographic example is the film 8 mileswhere white rapping Eminem battles other rappers in a dialectical duel of both wit and cruelty and lack of compassion.
Santos reveals that, after the pandemic, he gradually approached the groups of young people who gathered in this park in the Sants neighborhood to sing their rhymes and organize their own cockfights. “At first they saw me as a strange forty-something who writes scripts, but they began to accept me,” jokes the director, who adds that “I was clear that I wanted to make a film about the environment of the freestyle”.
But the trigger for the decision to do Noise was meeting its protagonist, Lati. “It’s a bomb freestyle“, says Santos. “You have to see it in action,” Carrizosa intervenes. “In the park I hung out with friends who rapped and I started doing it too until a friend encouraged me to come here.” [a Sants] to participate in a cockfight and that’s what I did,” says the rapper, dressed in a piece of waterproof gray tracksuit with a hood, on which you can see the anagrams of Prada and Pirelli, two brands of the taste of the young people from the environment. Lati points out that the video of his intervention went viral on TikTok. On this network you can view some of his performances under the nickname “latiniebla”.
“The guys are cool but so am I”
“When I met Lati, the idea arose that the protagonist was a young woman of African descent and Muslim and I began to build the subplot that would explain her life conflict,” says the director. The conflict is that Lati has a traditional mother, with strong Muslim religious convictions, who is contrary to her daughter’s lifestyle. “In reality it doesn’t happen the same; “I get along well with my mother,” the young rapper clarifies with a smile.
There are few girls who participate in cockfights, just five for 150 bucks [chicos]
Ingride Santos, director
On the other hand, Lati establishes a learning relationship with Judy, played by another actress with no previous experience, Judith Álvarez, a young woman from the Poble Sec neighborhood who also has a musical hobby, although in this case inclined towards music. r’n’b. In NoiseAlvarez is a freestyler Already retired, Lati approaches her to help her progress. At first Judy tries to get money from her without effort, but she soon discovers the young woman’s talent and gets involved.
“There are few girls who participate in cockfights, just five for 150 bucks.” [chicos]”, explains Santos, who adds: “You have to be very strong mentally, because it is a very aggressive sport where you can receive all kinds of disqualifications.” Lati nods and emphasizes: “I’m not worried that it’s a world of guys, they give it a go but I give it too.”
In any case, Santos reveals that he carried out a casting intensive among all the young women in the scene in Barcelona until deciding on the actresses who would play Judy and Lati. From there began a task of planning and training the actresses. “At first we started with an iPad on our faces so they could practice,” says Santos. “It was complicated, but thanks to an acting coach we improved a lot and now we feel prepared for everything,” says Judith Álvarez, the co-star in the role of Judy.
Heading to Mexico
The filming of Noise It has progressed like this until, after three weeks of filming, there are two left before flying to Mexico to shoot the end of the film for another two weeks. “The budget is 1.6 million for the part that is filmed in Spain, but with the Mexican part it will reach two million,” Carrizosa clarifies.
Regarding the role of Mexico in the film, the director uses the musical bond that Spain and Mexico have. “You get into a taxi in Mexico City and you hear Héroes del Silencio on the radio,” he exemplifies, pointing out that “as soon as an artist emerges in Spain, she immediately flies to Mexico to continue her career.”
“In it freestyle You start in the park battles and, if you excel, you move on to the national leagues, basically the FMS and the Red Bull League,” Santos continues. “But if you succeed there, you have to jump to the world leagues and in this sense the DF has a very powerful league,” concludes the director, giving clues to the professional evolution of the protagonist of Noise. As for the premiere, Carrizosa points to “September of next year at the earliest.”
#Young #people #rap #periphery #filming #film #producers #Casa #flames #hope #turn #Bola
