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Tú me abrasas

You Burn Me | Du verbrennst mich
Encounters 2024
© Películas mirando el techo
Tú me abrasas is an adaptation of “Sea Foam”, a chapter from Cesare Pavese’s “Dialoghi con Leucò” published in 1947. The ancient Greek poet Sappho and the nymph Britomartis meet beside the sea and have a conversation about love and death. Sappho is said to have thrown herself into the ocean from lovesickness. Britomartis apparently tumbled off a cliff and into the water while fleeing from a man. Together, the two discuss the stories and images that have emerged around them to try and understand, at least for a moment, the bittersweet nature of desire. The film adapts not only the text but also footnotes and gaps in the story. For example, the fact that, in 1950, a desperate Pavese committed suicide in a hotel room with this book by his side. Or that Sappho’s poems have survived only in fragments. Or that sea foam is historically and scientifically associated with fertility and bacteria, that is, with life itself. “Everything dies in the sea and comes back to life,” says Britomartis. Tú me abrasas introduces new readings and translations that go beyond the myths by Pavese and Sappho.
by Matías Piñeiro
with Gabi Saidón, María Villar, María Inês Gonçalves, Agustina Muñoz, Ana Cris Barragán, Michelle Yoon, Katarina Burin Argentina / Spain 2024 Spanish 64’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Gabi Saidón (Sappho)
  • María Villar (Britomart)
  • María Inês Gonçalves (Biology Student)
  • Agustina Muñoz (Narrator)
  • Ana Cris Barragán (Lover)
  • Michelle Yoon (Apple-Picker)
  • Katarina Burin (Calypso)

Crew

Director Matías Piñeiro
Screenplay Matías Piñeiro
Cinematography Tomas Paula Marques, Matías Piñeiro
Editing Gerard Borràs
Music Gabi Saidón, María Villar
Sound Mercedes Gaviria Jaramillo
Producers Melanie Schapiro, Garbiñe Ortega, Matías Piñeiro
Associate Producer Arrate Velasco Delgado
Co-Production Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola San Sebastián

Produced by

Trapecio Cine

Películas mirando el techo

Photos

Matías Piñeiro

© Películas mirando el techo

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1982, he has lived in New York since 2011. A director and screenwriter, his short and feature films have premiered at the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno, Cannes and the New York Film Festival. His work is often based on literary sources including Shakespeare, Sappho and D. F. Sarmiento. He is an associate professor at the Pratt Institute in New York and coordinates the filmmaking programme at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastián. He is currently working on the adaptation of “The Lesson of the Master” by Henry James and on an essay film based on Francesco Petrarca’s “De remediis utriusque fortunae”.

Filmography (selection)

2007 El hombre robado (The Stolen Man) 2009 Todos mienten (They All Lie) 2010 Rosalinda; short film 2012 Viola 2014 La princesa de Francia (The Princess of France) 2016 Hermia & Helena 2020 Isabella 2021 Sycorax; short film, co-director: Lois Patiño 2024 Tú me abrasas (You Burn Me)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024