Far from the Trees
(Lejos de los Arboles)
Jacinto Esteva Grew / Spain / 1967 / 103 min
Related Films
Happy Parallel(El Alegre Paralelo)Enric Ripoll i Freixes, Josep Maria RamonPart of a written commentary by Enric Ripoll i Freixes, the film reveals the daily life of the popular Barcelona neighborhood of Parallel, reflecting ...Field for Men(El Campo para el Hombre)Class Film Collective (Helena Lumbreras, Mariano Lisa)Serving the working class, the film portraits in a clear television style the two extremes of agricultural property in Spain in the 70s’ in Galician ...El SoparPere PortabellaThis film attempts to approach the problem of political prisoners in detention for long periods of time. This meeting took place in 1974 in Catalonia on ...… And Then None Will Laugh(…i després ningú no riurà)Manel EstebanThis revolutionary film – considered representative of the social and cultural spirit of the moment – is emblematic of Spanish independent ...Synopsis
Spanish with English/French subtitles
Shot on weekends over 7 years, this documentary displays Spanish anthropological traditions involving pain and death. As a critical eye on a stereotyped Spain, some critics consider it as an update on Las Hurdes (Land without Bread) (1932, Luis Buñuel), in Spain full of developmentalism. Far from the tree is literally a savage, a stab, a description of the relentless and glacial darker and deeper Spain through their ancestral rites and ceremonies. Esteva does not move as an anthropologist among all this barbarism, but portrays it with a mixture of rejection and fascination. SENSITIVITY ADVISORY: CONTAINS ANIMAL ABUSE. Restored 35 mm print.
About the Director
Jacinto Esteva Grew (1936-1985) studied Philosophy for two years at Barcelona, Architecture in Geneva (Switzerland) and Urban Planning at the Sorbonne in Paris (France). In 1960 he directed a short film with Paolo Brunatto, Notes sur l’emigration. In 1962 he filmed two other films: Alrededor de las Salina and Picasso. He debuted in 1966 with the feature film Far From the Trees. In 1965 he began his work in the film industry with the founding of the company Filmscontacto, based on the so-called School of Barcelona. In 1967 he co-directed with Joaquín Jordá Dante no es Únicamente Severo. His last film was Después del Diluvio (1968). He also co-produced Cabezas Cortadas by Glauber Rocha and collaborated in the production of Cercles, by Ricardo Bofill, and had prepared a script with Luis Azcona, Icarus, which was not carried out.