DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I. I need to express my admiration for the overwhelming humanity and talent that has surrounded me over these past few months, and to talk about the challenge of trying to convey what one can only be grasped when experienced nearby; the difficulty of telling a story that unfolds around you, or trying to hold water between one’s hands.

Vital energy, viscera, tenderness, sweat, joy, but above all love: an irritating word when used gratuitously, but which has made me cry throughout this project.

The past 15 months we have shared together impel me to declare my unconditional love for these individuals who have inspired me to see fatherhood as a challenge, as an opportunity for redemption, who have asked me to believe in the crystalline eye and in the value of
innocence. These people have made me want to bring back my childhood.

I need to say that I count myself in among those who kneel before so much virtue and sacrifice… my team and I, who have become parallel shadows, have seen with devout eyes. We have been seduced by the endless vitality and patience that these children and their mentor are able to generate.

II. In 2009, I was filming a live concert by the Sant Andreu Band for a DVD recording. The concert was at the Palau de la Música, in Barcelona, which was packed and had been sold out. When Alba Armengou, who was then 7 years old, finished the final phrase of the chorus When you’re smiling and began playing the trumpet, the Palau stood in awe, the whispers became an ovation and I, with tears in my eyes, stopped filming… at that moment I understood the need to begin this journey… the magical connection of these children with the audience, everything they give, they convey, encourage us to see and find out more in order to try and answer the questions raised when one faces something so mesmerizing.