Rendez-vous with Coffee and Talk: Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, feature film

Buñuel v labirintu želv / Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas / Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

In Spanish with Slovenian and English subtitles

Paris, 1930. The infamous surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel is left penniless after the scandalous release of L’Age d’Or. On a whim, Buñuel’s good friend, sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket and promises to devote his winnings to fund Buñuel’s next film. Incredibly, Ramón wins the jackpot, sending the two friends to the remote mountains of their native Spain to film the documentary Las Hurdes: Land Without Bread. Driven by mad artistic impulse and haunted by childhood memories, Buñuel must confront the spectre of mortality looming over the lives of his subjects – and his own.

Directed by: Salvador Simó

Based on a graphic novel by Fermín Solís

Written by: Eligo Montero, Salvador Simó

Animation director: Manolo Galiana

Art director: José Luis Ágreda

Music: Arturo Cardelús

Sound Design: Juan Ferro

Editing: José Manuel Jiménez

Voices: Jorge Usón, Fernando Ramos, Luis Enrique de Tomás, Cyril Corral

Producers: Manuel Cristóbal, Álex Cervantes, Bruno Felix

Production: Sygnatia Films, The Glow Animation Studio, Submarine

Distribution: Latido Films

In the movie Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles what I am trying to do is to portray that young artist, not like the famous director he is today, but as he was at the beginning of his career when hardly anyone knew him, just a guy called Luis. To that end, in order to get close to the character at the personal level, I was very fortunate in that I was able to count on his son, Juan Luis, with whom I held many conversations at his house in Paris, a series of encounters full of details, laughter and affection.

– Salvador Simó

I am convinced that animation offers huge possibilities as far as narration is concerned, particularly when there is a world of fantasy around it. I have no doubt that Luis Buñuel himself would have made use of animation, like his friend Ramón Acín, the artist from Aragon and co-protagonist in Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles. I think that one of the most important things about the film is that Salvador Simó, as its director, has focused on Luis as a person, reinventing him in a very warm way though showing little if any respect for the genius.

- Manuel Cristóbal

Awards (selection):

- Jury Award and Best Original Music, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 2019

- ASECAN Award and Feroz Puerta Oscura Award for best film, Málaga Spanish Film Festival, 2019

- Nominated for European Animated Feature Film, European Film Awards 2019