As Neves

The kids are NOT alright.

The morning after carnival night in the Galician village of AS NEVES, local teenagers awake to discover that snowfall overnight has cut off their internet access and one of them never made it home from their magic mushroom-fueled party.

AS NEVES is a mountain village in Galicia where everyone knows each other.

On Carnival night, a group of teenagers from the town celebrates at a party in an abandoned school and tries magic mushrooms for the first time.

A video disrupts the party mood. No one knows who recorded it, but everyone has shared it, and it is on their phones.

The next day, they wake up to find the town snowed in by a storm and learn that Paula, one of the girls at the party, is missing. Her ex-boyfriend, Manu, can't remember how the night ended, but he remembers having a heated conversation with her, and he wakes up with a wound but can't remember how he got it.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Portas, head of the local police station, starts the investigation by interrogating the teenagers. Her daughter, Erea, provided the mushrooms for the party.

Afraid of their parents’ reaction, the group agrees to cover up the existence of the video and having taken mushrooms. Feelings of guilt and mistrust develop in the community.

The village becomes isolated, with no internet connection, and it becomes urgent to find Paula.

The storm worsens. Classes are canceled, the power supply is cut off, and mobile phones become inoperable. Manu feels increasingly guilty and anxious, while Erea tries to avoid facing her emotions by finding ways to distract herself. None of them had any direct involvement in the tragic outcome.

However, with nothing to do in the town except overthink, they all feel more and more trapped.

The storm subsides, and the search for Paula continues. With nothing to do in town but rack their brains, Manu and Erea are increasingly cornered. Erea focuses on making the video disappear; Manu feels more guilty and loses his temper. Unable to stand so much tension and doubting himself more, he decides to turn himself in to Sergeant Portas. Erea convinces him not to do it; she is sure he did nothing wrong and offers to help him find out what happened the night of the party.

They join the group and try to reconstruct what happened. They both need to prove they are not responsible, but they can't put the pieces together and don't know how to handle their emotions. The storm abates, and Manu determines to turn himself in. Erea confesses that she recorded the video. Disconnected, they have to deal with the aftermath.

The investigation into Paula's disappearance will profoundly change their lives and relationships within the village and the greater world.

Director's notes: Sonia Méndez

I experienced adolescence in the 90s, so I belong to that last generation caught between the analog and digital worlds. The coexistence of both paradigms fascinates me, and it was at this intersection that the idea for this story emerged. The film portrays the most hyper-connected generation, still living in isolated environments. It's a story about contemporary young people who are caught in the limbo between these two worlds.

Gus Van Sant, one of my influences, says that life makes us forget what it's like to be young and full of hope but that it's still there, somewhere inside us. Adolescence is the first and perhaps the last stage where you learn something. I share this fascination with this time of life, a moment when all the adults tell you to think about your future when all you want is to live in the present. And you do so with intensity but also with many insecurities. You inhabit an amazingly virgin territory. You are fully alive.

AS NEVES is a psychological teenage drama looking at how the lives of a group of friends living in a remote village are disrupted by the disappearance of one of their own. This unexpected event destabilizes the way these young people are, how they cope with living in an isolated environment but are also constantly connected to the world through their phones. The protagonists are teenagers who live in the mountains, in a remote town, surrounded by abandoned spaces that they make their own.

"

Gus Van Sant, one of my influences, says that life makes us forget what it's like to be young and full of hope but that it's still there, somewhere inside us.

Their conflicts are like any other teenagers, but their outlets to resolve them are very different. They live in contact with nature but also with the internet, so the universe offered by the mobile screen clashes with their environment. The more open the natural space they live in, the more trapped they feel in certain situations. I wanted to explore this contrast and how it is managed amidst the turmoil of adolescence.

The visual concept for the film avoids any artificial styles to best serve the portrayal of the teenage psyche. The point of view is always with them. We use cinematic language to get inside their heads, with close and intimate shots when we need to decipher the world around them or when they are unable to express what they feel. When the surrounding world, like the adult world, is uninteresting to them, it is either blurred or entirely out of frame. The framing is at their eye level, and the camera follows them, often from behind, when we don't understand them or when they feel restless.

Continuous shots slowly open or close the frame when they have no answers or feel pressured. The shots widen when they are in comfortable spaces, like with their group of friends. In this way, we don't know anything they don't know or see anything they haven't seen. Narratively, we piece together the same puzzle as they do, and formally, we traverse their same emotions.

The sound treatment reinforces the teenagers' psychological universe and the storm's progressive presence. The ambient sounds coexist with the soundtrack composed by Andy Bell (Oasis, Ride), built upon guitar and bass feedback in different tonal scales that layer upon each other as the film progresses, creating a contained world that feels like it's on the verge of exploding. This sonic resource perfectly reflects the teenage unrest and subtly helps us get into their heads. For me, this was the dream soundtrack, and it has been a true luxury to have one of the world's great guitar players compose it.

The town and its surroundings are another character in this film, the title refers to the name of the town where the action takes place: AS NEVES (The Snow, in English).

I wanted to explore this contrast and how it is managed amidst the turmoil of adolescence.

"It's a name charged with meaning, for me as well as it is also my paternal grandmother's name, but that's another story. Given that the location carries so much weight, it was essential for me that this place somehow "exists," that it brings naturalness to the story, that it is understood that the landscape can intervene in the character's psyche, the fragility of communication, and the possibility of being isolated by a snowstorm. The area of Fonsagrada and its incredible mountainous surroundings were the ideal location, a place that faithfully matches how I always imagined AS NEVES

The surrounding landscape is overwhelming, beautiful, and very cinematic. The mountain lines create immense horizons, almost like in a western. Behind the buildings, you only see the mountains down below; you can feel the calm but also vertigo. When the clouds approach, they position themselves below the town, surrounding it but not touching it, giving it beauty and magic but also a sense of strangeness. The isolation can be easily felt because when you're in the highest point, no matter where you look, you only see the horizon, there's nothing higher than this place. You see the sky, but you also see the storm approaching…

Another crucial element was the casting. The group of teenagers, the main characters of the film, were selected after an open casting process that attracted over 600 young people from all over Galicia. It was an exhaustive process where I interviewed all the participants, and after several rounds of auditions, I selected the main group of friends.

I worked with them for two months alongside a coach specializing in young actors. Our goal was to create a genuine bond among the group - they didn’t know each other before - and to train them in acting and filming dynamics. We also rehearsed in the actual locations for several days to create a sense of attachment to the town itself. Working with them was one of the film's most beautiful and enriching processes.

CASTING: The group of friends

From the young cast, David Rodríguez (Manu) is the only one with previous film experience, as he has acted in Dani de la Torre’s film Live is Life. Xacobe Bruña (Diego) is an incredibly talented actor who has just started his studies in acting at RESAD. Irene Rodríguez (Sabela) is a dancer who also does amateur theater and has an adorable comedic side. On the other hand, both Andrea Fernández (Erea) and Antía Mariño (Paula) stumbled upon the casting by chance, and they won us over. Diego Caro (Óscar) and Santi Carmena (Breo) have participated in some short films, and they aspire to be actors, forming a perfect duo. Jennifer Soto (Paloma) and Adriana Fernández (Bea) are handball players who had appeared in amateur short films and integrated perfectly into the acting process.

DIRECTOR / SCREENWRITER

Sonia Méndez

SONIA MÉNDEZ has directed, written, and produced several short films, including “Perversa Lola,” “Leo y Mario (se dejan),” “Café-Bar Santos Peluquería,” “Ei, Guapa” for the collective feature film “Visións,” “Las Damas Negras,” and “Conversación con una mujer muerta.” The latter two were awarded the Mestre Mateo Award for Best Short Film in 2011 and 2012, among other awards and distinctions.

She also created, co-wrote, and acted in the web series “Angélica y Roberta” , which won the Mestre Mateo Award for Best Web Series in 2012. In 2019, she directed and co-wrote the gala for the Galician audiovisual awards and the promotional pieces for “Viajeros Del Futuro” for CRTVG.

As an actress she has worked in various TV series such as “Serramoura,” “Os Atlánticos,” and “Terras de Miranda” for CRTVG, “Cuéntame” for TVE, and “El Vecino” for Netflix, as well as in feature films such as “Olvido y Leon” and “Rafael” by Xavier Bermúdez, “El Sexo de los Ángeles” by Xavier Villaverde, and “Por mi y por todos mis compañeros” by Judas Diz. She presented the programme “Galicia de 20 a 20” for Voz Audiovisual on CRTVG.

Since 2014, she created and directed the Carballo Interplay Digital Content Festival, Spain’s first web series and digital content festival.

In 2018, she co-founded the production company Cósmica Producións with Nati Juncal Portas. With Cósmica, she directed and wrote the web series “Antes de Perder” for Playz-RTVE, which also won the Mestre Mateo Award for Best Web Series in 2020. She also directed the documentary feature film “A Poeta Analfabeta” about Galician poet, feminist, and activist Luz Fandiño, which premiered at the Cineuropa Festival

in Santiago de Compostela. The film won the Best Director Award at the Mostra Internacional de Cinema Etnográfico (MICE). It was nominated for Best Documentary at the upcoming Mestre Mateo Awards of the Galician Academy of Audiovisual.

She is currently vice president of the Galician Academy of Audiovisual and a member of the Association of Directors and Directors of Galicia (CREA).

She was honored with the Mujeres en Foco Award from the Association of Women Filmmakers (CIMA) and the Diputación de Pontevedra.

AS NEVES is her feature fiction debut

THE TEAM:

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER

PRODUCERS

SONIA MÉNDEZ

NATI JUNCAL PORTAS

PEDRO HERNÁNDEZ

PRODUCTION COMPANIES

CÓSMICA PRODUCIÓNS

AQUÍ Y ALLÍ FILMS

EREA

MANU

PAULA

DIEGO

SABELA

ÓSCAR

BREO

PALOMA

BEA

SARGENTO PORTAS

ABUELA

ANDREA FERNÁNDEZ

DAVID RODRÍGUEZ

ANTÍA MARIÑO

XACOBE BRUÑA

IRENE RODRÍGUEZ

DIEGO CARO

SANTI CARMENA

JENNIFER SOTO

LUISA MERELAS CAST

ADRIANA FERNÁNDEZ

LUCÍA VEIGA

PRODUCER

Nati Juncal Portas

Nati Juncal Portas has freelanced on film and television projects for numerous production companies, primarily in Galicia. In recent years, she has been especially involved in auteur cinema, serving as the Production Director for “Lúa Vermella” by Lois Patiño (Zeitun Films), which premiered at the Forum of the Berlinale in 2020; the Production Manager for “Longa Noite” and “Eles Transportan a morte” (Fílmika Galaika), the former directed by Eloy Enciso and premiered at Locarno in 2019. The latter directed by Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021. In 2021, she served as the Production Director for “Matria” by Álvaro Gago (Matriuska, Avalon P.C., Ringo Media, and Elástica), “A foreign song” by César Souto (Matriuska), and “Prefiro Condenarme” (Nós PCG), the new film by Margarita Ledo.

In 2018, she co-founded CÓSMICA PRODUCIÓNS with director Sonia Méndez, where she she is the lead Producer and Production Director for the fiction feature film “As Neves” (Sonia Méndez, 2024), the fiction short film “O neno sardiña” (Lucía Estévez, 2022), the documentary feature film “A poeta analfabeta” (Sonia Méndez, 2020), and the web series “Antes de Perder” (Sonia Méndez, 2019) for Playz-RTVE. The web series won the Mestre Mateo Award for Best Web Series in 2020.

She is the regional delegate for Galicia of CIMA (Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media) and a member of the board of AGAPI (Galician Association of Independent Producers).

PRODUCER

Pedro Hernández Santos

Pedro Hernández Santos, founder and producer of Aquí y Allí Films, is known for paying special attention to new talent. Pedro has produced twelve feature films: “Here and there" by Antonio Méndez Esparza, (2012), "Magical girl" by Carlos Vermut (2014), "Talk" by Joaquín Oristrell (2015), “The Furies" by Miguel del Arco (2016), “Life and nothing more" by Antonio Méndez Esparza (2017), "Boi" by Jorge M. Fontana (2019), “The queen of lizards" by Burnin' Percebes (2020), "Courtroom 3H" by Antonio Méndez Esparza (2020), “Counting sheep" by José Corral Llorente (2022), "Manticore" by Carlos Vermut (2022), “The fantastic golem affairs" by Burnin' Percebes (2023) and “Something is about to happen" by Antonio Méndez Esparza. He executive produced the film "Teresa" (2015) and "El Desentierro" (2018) both for RTVE and produced the webseries "Limbo" (2018) for Playz (RTVE). In 2016 he was appointed as Spanish representative in Producers on the Move (European Film Promotion). In 2018, “Life & nothing more” won the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, becoming the first Spanish producer to win this recognition. He also heads the international service of the feature film "American Star" (2023) produced by EMU Films, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego and starring Ian McsSane.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Lucía C. Pan

Lucía C. Pan studied Fine Arts at the University of Vigo and specialized in cinematography at ESCAC.

She works in both fiction and documentary films. Her credits as Director of Photography include feature films such as “Dhogs” by Andrés Gotieira (2018), “Matria” by Álvaro Gago, “Trote” by Xacio Baño, “Eroski Paraíso” by Jorge Coira and X. Ron, “A Poeta Analfabeta” by Sonia Méndez, and “¿Qué Hicimos Mal?” by Liliana Torres, “As Neves” by Sonia Méndez, and “Mamífera” by Liliana Torres. She has also worked on series such as “Auga Seca” (HBO) and “Argonautas” (CLAN TVE), as well as multiple short films, including “16 de Decembro” by Álvaro Gago, “ECO” by Xacio Baño, “Limbo” by Dani Viqueira, and “A Nena Azul” by Sandra Sánchez.

She has received several awards for her work, including the Mulleres no Foco Award 2022 and the Chano Piñeiro Award 2022 from OUFF for her contribution to the Galician audiovisual industry and career. She won the Mestre Mateo Award for Best Cinematography in 2018 for “Dhogs,” in 2019 for “Trote,” and in 2022 for “¿Qué Hicimos Mal?”. She also received the Pávez Award for Best Cinematography in 2019 for “A Nena Azul” and the Cans Award for Best Cinematography in 2020 for “16 de Decembro.”

EDITOR

Juliana Montañes

Juliana Montañés has been an editor for over 15 years, in both fiction and documentary format. She has worked on films such as “Caracremada” by Lluis Galter, selected at the Venice Film Festival, and other feature films including “Vasil” by Avelina Prat, “La Voluntaria” by Nely Reguera, “Les Bones Nenes” by director Clara Roquet, and “Tierra Firme” by Carlos Marqués-Marcet. Some of her recent editing projects include “El fantástico caso del Golem” by Burnin’ Percebes and “Sica” (2023) by Carla Subirana, which premiered at the Berlinale.

She has been nominated for the Gaudí Awards for her editing work on films such as “10,000 km” by Carlos Marqués-Marcet and “La Inocencia” by Lucía Alemany.

MUSIC COMPOSER / OST

Andy Bell

Andy Bell is a British musician, composer, singer, producer, and DJ. He is currently a member of the English band Ride, which pioneered the shoegazing genre. He has also been a member of Oasis, Hurricane #1, and Beady Eye.

He made his solo debut in 2020 with “The View from Halfway Down” and followed up in 2022 with “Flicker.” He is about to release a new album with Ride (Interplay) and continues his electronic project GLOW. He is also a member of the supergroup “Mantra of the Cosmos.”

"It was a pleasure composing the score for AS NEVES. It is my first feature film score and the process was everything I dreamed it could have been. Sonia Méndez is such a talented director and had a very strong idea of what she wanted from the film’s music, which helped me a lot. It was lucky that we were so in sync, as what she wanted seemed to work very well with what I imagined, so the process came together very quickly. While recording in Galicia I was lucky to be able to work with Xavi Font, who taught me so much about scoring in the process of producing my music for the film. Of course, Galicia is a big part of the movie, and Sonia and Nati (the film’s producer) took me on a sightseeing trip at the beginning of the recording process so that I could appreciate and get to know a little of the feeling of the area. I think this was really important. I can’t wait to work with Cosmica again - if that is something that could ever happen, I’d be very happy.”

Andy Bell AS NEVES

OST

PASSWORD: AndyBellBSOAsNeves

PRODUCTION COMPANY

CÓSMICA PRODUCIÓNS

Founded in 2018 by producer Nati Juncal Portas and director Sonia Méndez, Cósmica

Produciós is a production company that officially started that year but is the result of a collaboration between these two friends that began in 2007 during the filming of “Perversa Lola,” Sonia Méndez’s first short film. After meeting on this project, they formed a fruitful directing-producing team that gave birth to several short films and the web series “Angélica y Roberta.” Over the years, they have developed their working style and carved out their space in the Galician audiovisual industry.

In 2019, they produced the web series “Antes de Perder” for Playz-RTVE. It was selected in the Buenos Aires Series festival in the International Competition and awarded Best Web Series at the Mestre Mateo Awards in 2020. The series has accumulated over 1 million views on platforms.

In 2020, they premiered “A Poeta Analfabeta,” a documentary portrait of poet and activist Luz Fandiño, at the Cineuropa Festival in Santiago de Compostela. It won Best Direction at the Compostela Ethnographic Film Festival (MICE) and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Mestre Mateo Awards.

In 2022, they filmed “O Neno Sardiña,” a short film directed by the young Lucía Estévez, which premiered at the Xixón International Film Festival 2022.

In 2023, they completed filming their first fiction feature film, “As Neves,” directed by Sonia Méndez. The project was developed at the Torino Film Lab and Sources2 labs and has the support of TVG and RTVE.

Cósmica also directs and produces the Carballo Interplay digital content festival, which will celebrate its 11th edition this year.

Currently, they are working on the development of three other feature film projects: “As Defensas” by director Lucía Estévez, in which they participated in the Torino Film Lab, the Festival du Noveau Cinema market (Montreal), I+P INCUBA, and the Rueda Program of the Academy of Cinema; “Terás que saltar” by Irene Pin, a fiction feature film that addresses the issue of gentrification exemplified in the city of Lisbon, developed in Conecta Lab and Lab Colombia; and “Historia de Un Amor,” the next feature film by Sonia Méndez.

PRODUCTION COMPANY AQUÍ Y ALLÍ FILMS

Aquí y Allí Films is a Spanish movie production house founded by Pedro Hernández Santos in 2010 and based in Madrid. It was the production company behind "Here and there" (Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes), "Magical girl" (winner of a Golden Shell and Silver Shell in San Sebastián), "Talk" (Audience Award at Malaga Film Festival),”The Furies" (opening film at SEMINCI). It also produced "Life and nothing more" (John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards), "Boi" (opening film at SSFF), “Courtroom 3h” (Official Section at San Sebastián), "The queen of lizards” (D’A Film Festival), "Counting sheep" debut feature by José Corral Llorente, “Eternal Happiness” by Isa Luengo and Sofia Esteve (Best Short at LesGaiCineMad),"Manticore" (Toronto International Film Festival, Sitges Festival, nominated for four Goya Awards and winner of two Feroz Awards),"The fantastic golem affairs" by Burnin’ Percebes (Official Section, Málaga Festival and Fantastic Fest Austin) and "Something is about to happen" by Antonio Méndez Esparza (Official Section SEMINCI and Goya Award winner).

2024 will see the release of debut features "Birth" by Pau Texidor, “As Neves" by Sonia Méndez and “Goat girl" by Ana Asensio. Daniel Guzmán’s third feature "La deuda”, and the animated feature "Norberto" by José Corral Llorente will start shooting the same year. Aquí y Allí Films is currently working on upcoming projects by filmmakers Jorge M. Fontana, Miguel del Arco, Day García and Pedro Collantes, among others.

SPAIN 2023

a film by Sonia Méndez