World premiering at the Malaga Film Festival on March 15, Sara Fantova’s feature debut “Jone, batzuetan” (“Jone, Sometimes”) vies for the top prize in official competition.
Penned by Fantova, Nuria Martín and Núria Dunjó, the coming-of-age story set in the Basque Country’s Bilbao draws from the lives of all three.
While Fantova notes that it is not based on real events or a specific episode from her own life, it was inspired by the diaries her father gave her of his own youth.
“Reading those documents was what initially inspired the development of the film. What has ultimately remained from that inspiration are the texts that accompany Jone, narrated in voice-over by her father,” Fantova told Variety.
“Beyond that, and despite choosing to set the film in a real context—the celebrations of Bilbao’s Aste Nagusia—the story is entirely fictional,” she said adding: “The three of us wanted to explore something that we found meaningful: that pivotal moment when one begins to face adulthood and must learn to balance light and darkness.”
The film portrays the coming-of-age journey of 20-year-old Jone who experiences her first love amid the unexpected acceleration of her father’s Parkinson’s disease. During Bilbao’s Semana Grande, Jone oscillates between a sense of invincibility shared with her new girlfriend Olga and resistance to her father’s unique approach to managing his illness. These experiences culminate in a transformative summer where Jone recognizes her evolution from girlhood to impending adulthood.
“We chose to depict this balance through themes of illness and love, or the contrast between festivities and home. Jone must learn to accept pain and illness as part of life while experiencing her first love,” she noted.
Finding the right actress to play the lead was one of her biggest challenges. “My goal in casting was not to specifically find a non-professional actress for the role of Jone. Rather, both Amets Zulueta, my casting director, and I were determined to find the Jone we had all envisioned. That’s why we auditioned a wide range of candidates—including professional actresses, acting students, and even those with no prior experience,” said Fantova, whose first foray into filmmaking was her short “No me despertéis,” which premiered at Valladolid’s 63rd Seminci and participated in the Rotterdam Film Fest, among many others.
“After months of searching and feeling like we hadn’t found the perfect fit, Amets, who is the same age as Jone, turned to her friends. That’s when we got lucky—Olaia Aguayo, one of Amets’ closest friends, decided to audition. By her second audition, it was unmistakably clear—she was our Jone,” she related.
Fruit of a rich Basque-Catalan new talent axis, the film is directed by Bilbao-born Fantova, an alum of Barcelona’s renowned Escac film school, J.A. Bayona’s alma mater who was cherry-picked to direct three episodes of hit Catalan TV series “This Is Not Sweden.”
The film is produced by two new talent drivers, Amania Films, headed by director David Pérez Sañudo, himself one of the Basque Country’s most distinguished directors (“Ane is Missing,” “The Last Romantics”), and the Escac Estudios (“Salve, María”), led by Sergi Casamitjana who has produced for decades Escac alum films, charting new generations’ coming of age tales, fixations and travails.
“Jone, batzuetan” went through Malaga’s Mafiz WIP program in its development journey that included Basque Country Noka Mentoring and Abycine Lanza in 2020 and Laboratorio Opera Prima last year.
As to be expected, securing the financing was one of her biggest challenges. “Creatively, having to write while keeping deadlines in mind to meet certain grants or funding calls means you don’t feel completely free; you’re always waiting, and that was the hardest part. This film was made in a rather unusual and special way—we financed it after shooting was completed,” she said, adding: “It has been a very long process, but for me, it has been incredible because I have been able to share it with my friends at every stage – development, shooting and editing. I have shared all phases with friends, and that has been the most beautiful and enriching part of the process.”
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
