06/12/2016 - The director is currently in Florida shooting his second film, following Here and There, once again produced by Pedro Hernández for Aquí y allí Films

Antonio Méndez Esparza during the shoot for Life and Nothing More (© Aquí y allí Films)

On 31 October, the shoot began in the US state of Florida for Life & Nothing More [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Méndez Esparza
film profile], directed by filmmaker and teacher Antonio Méndez Esparza, and produced (as was the case for his feature debut, Here and There [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Hernández
film profile], which emerged victorious in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2012, taking home its Grand Prix) by Pedro Hernández, of Aquí y allí Films (a 2016 Producer on the Move – read the interview). Principal photography, featuring a 19-strong crew, will continue until mid-December, with Barbu Balasoiu (Sieranevada [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Cristi Puiu
film profile]) serving as DoP.

With a budget of €500,000, non-professional actors and a screenplay penned by the director himself, which will be supplemented by real-life situations during the shoot, Life & Nothing More unfolds during the US presidential elections, “because it was important to capture that air of uncertainty”, according to the producer.

The main characters in this “docufiction” are a family of African Americans, comprising a mother and her two children – a troublesome teenager and a younger girl – who have no choice but to get by on social benefits, despite the head of the family having two jobs, in an atmosphere festering with social inequality and racism.

Pedro Hernández currently has three other projects on the go: Boi [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (working title: Sangre razonable), a comedy-drama set to be directed by Jorge M Fontana next autumn in Barcelona (which will be sold abroad by Filmax); Punto Nemo by José Skaf (Vulcania [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), a road movie with a dash of suspense that will be filmed in 2018; and Despierta, a tense and suspenseful drama film that is currently being rewritten, set in India and directed by Jorge Dorado (of Mindscape [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jorge Dorado
film profile] fame).

French sales agent Films Distribution (which already teamed up with Pedro Hernández to handle Magical Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile]) will be in charge of the international sales of Life & Nothing More, following a deal signed at the most recent San Sebastián Film Festival.

(Translated from Spanish)