The Belly of the Sea
EL VENTRE DEL MAR
Directed by Agustí Villaronga
Festivals
- Spain Caracas Ibero-American Film Festival 2022
- India Pune International Film Festival 2022 (Global Cinema)
- UK Cambridge Film Festival 2021 (Camera Catalonia)
- Armenia Golden Apricot Yerevan IFF 2021 (International Competition)
- Spain San Sebastian Film Festival 2021 (Made in Spain)
- Romania Transilvania International Film Festival 2021 (Spanish focus)
- Spain Mallorca Film Fest (2021)
- Spain 24 Malaga Film Festival (2021) Best film, Best director, Best writting, Best actor in a leading role, Best music, Best cinematography
- Russia 43 Moscow Film Festival 2021 (Main Competition) World Premiere, Critics Award
- Netherlands Rotterdam Film Festival 2021 (HARBOUR)
Synopsis
Inspired by bestseller Oceano mare by Alessandro Baricco, The Belly of the Sea is a movie based on real events.
After the wreck of a ship, 147 men try to survive, confined in a raft adrift in the middle of the sea. This shipwreck was immortalized by Théodore Géricault in the famous canvas The Raft of the Medusa, preserved in the Louvre Museum. The italian writer Alessandro Baricco narrates these events in the novel Oceano Mare, into the chapter titled El Vientre del Mar.
Crew
Editing Bernat Aragonés
Screenplay A. Villaronga; based in novel “Oceano mare”, of Alessandro Baricco
Producers Javier Pérez Santana, Cesc Mulet
Line producing Bárbara Ferrer
Cinematography Josep M. Civit, Blai Tomàs
Art direction Susy Gómez
Music Markus J.G.R.
Sound Lucía Millán, Fernando Novillo
production by TESTAMENTOla Perifèrica Produccions
Cast
Roger Casamajor — Savigny
Oskar Kapoya — Thomas
Muminu Diallo — Therese
Amand Buika — Darrell
Marc Bonnin — Marcus
Press
“A format-blender, mixing back and white and color cinematography, “The Belly of the Sea” was shot in a near 100-year-old wine cellar where Savigny and Thomas, the sailor, contrast their memories of the shipwreck in a kind of boxing ring surrounded by sea.
The film contains scenes from the subsequent court trial of the ship’s incompetent captain. There’s footage – photos and video – from Francesco Zizola’s “In the Same Boat,” shot from the a modern ship, the Bourbon Argos, documenting the rescue of African migrants adrift on the open sea in the Mediterranean in 2015.”
Notes from the director
I thought about making a movie between film and theatre, through Baricco’s text, as a way of reinventing ourselves against difficulties.
A conflict that recalls the wound of a man. June of 1816. The French frigate Alliance Navy runs aground in front of the Senegal coast. As there aren’t enough lifeboats to rescue all of the crew members, a precarious boat is built and 147 men are forced to get on board, leaving them to their fate. Hunger, the weather’s inclemency, madness and a violent fight is triggered on this drifting boat. A never-ending horror. Out of these 147 men, only nine survived. One of them was Savigny, a relentless medical officer, and Thomas a rebel naval private. Confronted, they live this situation showing different attitudes to survive. A scene where they show the biggest cruelty and the most tender commiseration.