Sight&Sound - 04.2020

FILMS OF THE MONTH

April 2020 | Sight&Sound | 61

The hills are alight: Benedicta Sánchez as the devoted mother in Oliver Laxe’s Fire Will Come, set in a landscape struggling for survival

Sánchez with Amador Arias as her son

Galicia, northwestern Spain, the present day. Amador,

a middle-aged man, is released from prison on parole

after serving two years on a charge of starting a fire

in the rural region that he comes from. He returns

home to live with his elderly mother Benedicta on

their farm in the mountains, where he helps her tend

her three cows. Amador shuns company, despite an

offer of work from Inazio, a local man who is restoring

ruined houses in the hope of attracting tourist trade.

However, Amador seems to form the beginnings

of a rapport with Elena, a vet who tends one of the

cows after it becomes stuck in a pool of water.

Later, firefighters arrive to attend a massive

blaze that has broken out on the mountain, and

Inazio, assuming that Amador is responsible,

attacks him. Amador and Benedicta walk away.

Produced by

Andrea Vázquez

García

Xavi Font

Andrea Queralt

Mani Mortazavi

Screenplay

Oliver Laxe

Santiago Fillol

Director of

Photography

Mauro Herce

Editing

Cristóbal Fernández

Art Direction

Samuel Lema

Curru Garabal

Music Producer/

Additional Music

Composed and

Arranged by

Xavi Font

Sound

David Machado

Sergio da Silva

Amanda Villavieja

Xavi Souto

Costumes

Nadia Acimi

©Miramemira, 4

A 4 Productions,

Tarantula,

Kowalski Films

Production

Companies

Miramemira, 4 A 4

Productions, Kowalski

Films, Tarantula

with the support of

ADADIC - Axencia

Galega das Industrias

Culturais, Xunta de

Galicia, CNC - Centre

National du Cinéma

et de l’Image Animée,

Aide aux Cinémas du

Monde, Eurimages

With the support of

Cineworld by Film

Fund Luxembourg

Co-financed by the

Government of Spain

• Ministerio de cultura
  y deporte - ICAA
  With the participation
  of Televisión de
  Galicia, ETB,
  Deputación de Lugo
  Executive Producer

Andrea Vázquez

García

Cast

Amador Arias

Amador Coro Quinoga

Benedicta Sánchez

Benedicta,

Amador’s mother

Inazio Abrao

Inazio

Elena Fernández

Elena, vet

David de Poso

Álvaro de Bazal

Damián Prado

Nando Vázquez

In Colour

[1.85:1]

Subtitles

Distributor

New Wave Films

Spanish theatrical title

O que arde

Credits and Synopsis