El vientre del mar

147 desperate survivors crammed onto a 12 x 6 metre raft. The shipwreck of the frigate La Méduse in 1816 was a dehumanising hell that inspired various artists over the years, including filmmaker Agustí Villaronga. El ventre del mar was originally intended as a play, but the Spanish director modified his plans during the Covid-19 pandemic. His story about two survivors of the shipwreck is now a mix of theatre and film. Sometimes the actors are clearly standing in scenery with a shallow layer of water, while at other moments they are on a real raft with a sea of drowned bodies in the background. Villaronga has his two main characters, an officer and a sailor, reminisce about their indelible traumas. This story, told in a slightly abstract, poetic style, is sometimes abruptly contemporised using news footage. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)