Cannes Film Festival 2022: Interview of Elena López Riera (‘El Agua’)

We interviewed Elena López Riera, director of El Agua, presented at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight, at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

For Paolo Moretti’s last edition of the Directors’ Fortnight as artistic director, the 54th edition of this exciting parallel section of the Cannes FIlm Festival had a lot to offer. Among our favourite titles presented at the Théâtre Croisette were God’s Creatures by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, or One Fine Morning by Mia Hansen-Løve. We were also impressed by Elena López Riera’s debut feature, El Agua starring Luna Pamiés.

It is summer in a small village in south-eastern Spain. A storm threatens to cause the river that runs through it to overflow again. A popular old belief claims that some women are predestined to disappear with each new flood, because they have the “water inside”. A band of young people is trying to overcome the weariness of a summer in the village that smells of death by smoking, dancing, and lusting after each other. In this electric atmosphere that precedes the storm, Ana and José live a love affair until the storm bursts.

We were excited to sit down with Spanish director Elena López Riera for a chat about her debut feature.