Far from the Trees
(Lejos de los Arboles)
Jacinto Esteva Grew / Spain / 1967 / 103 min
Related Films
Protest 1/8 1976(Manifestacions 1/8 Febrer 1976)AnonymousRaw, incredibly immediate images of the widespread protests in favor of amnesty for political prisoners in 1975. A rare document of the popular nature of ...Long Journey to Rage(Largo Viaje hacia la Ira)Llorenç SolerShops and shop windows, crowded buses, trains, advertising, cars, buildings jumbled and counterpoint in the suburbs and their misery. Field workers from ...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 ...Lock OutAntoni PadrósEnclosed in a separate world, outside of society, in futility because there is no real opposition, these characters, politically and sexually ...Mountain(Muntanya)AnonymousAn anonymous piece illustrating the artists’ and intellectuals’ squats in the Monastery of Montserrat in protest of the trial in Burgos (December ...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.