El lugar de las fresas

The word “transformation” is the vital structural element in this film. The transformation of the characters, of their relations and their history, but also of labor, of farming, of an era. With globalization at its height, Lina is still there, in the village of strawberries, surviving the advent of an era.

The film arrived in my life apparently by chance, like my arrival in Turin from Madrid. But as the years went by, I realized that the story had already been written.

The Porta Palazzo market fascinated me right from the start. It was the place where I felt least an outsider and least alone. Lots of people of different cultures, contrasts, colors and smells that reminded me of my own country. Turin was getting ready for the Winter Olympics at the time, and while I was shooting on the empty market square one night for a short documentary I was making, I noticed a “little” woman getting out of a van and starting to unload crates of fruit and vegetables. I watched her all night long and filmed her from a distance. Her gestures and movements and behavior made me curious. When dawn came, I decided to approach her with my camera over my shoulder. She welcomed me with a beaming smile and that’s how it all started. For a year I went to the market two or three times a week. Lina had something special about her and, for me, observing her and her gestures and her manual skills was like observing a prehistoric animal on the verge of extinction.

I used to spend a lot of time at the market and, day by day, it became more and more familiar. I learned to recognize the stalls and the farmers and the vendors but, all the more importantly, my rapport with Lina was growing all the time. At that point, Gianni, her husband, also began to open up. I was curious. Why did Lina come to the market so early? And why did she work so much? I wanted to know and find out more. From that moment on, I followed her everywhere, for more than three years. She got used to my presence and my camera gradually became invisible.

I realized I had found a fantastic character and I was certain that I wanted to tell her story. Today I know for sure that if I hadn’t met her, I would have left Turin long before I did.