07/08/2023 - The award-winning Spanish actress finishes shooting the drama she also stars in, which, as in her short film Son, delves into conflicts of identity

Actress and director Marta Nieto on the set of La mitad de Ana

Marta Nieto finished filming her debut feature film, La mitad de Ana (Half of Ana), a few days ago. The film explores conflicts of identity from the perspective of a mother who is also struggling to find herself. The project is preceded by the short film-essay Son, with the same theme. Also written and directed by Nieto, it starred Patricia López Arnaiz and premiered at the Seminci de Valladolid 2022 and was screened at international festivals such as Les Arcs in France. As well as directing, the actress from Murcia co-wrote the script with Beatriz Herzog and stars in the film, accompanied by Noa Álvarez and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (One Year, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isaki Lacuesta
film profile]).

La mitad de Ana was one of the projects selected to participate in the first edition of the Film Academy Residencies Programme (read more) and tells the story of how Ana combines her job as a museum guard while looking after her eight-year-old daughter, Son. Long separated, their routine changes with the start of the school year when Son begins exploring her identity. Confused, Ana will begin to see things differently and will have to rediscover the woman she was before becoming a mother. In order to support her daughter, Ana will have to become Ana again.

The filmmaker says, "the intuition that made me want to tell this story about the awakening of an adult woman through her daughter's crisis led me to discuss my own conflict of identity as a woman, as a creator and as a mother. Ana's awakening, of what she is and of what she was refusing to be by hiding in motherhood, also speaks of my own. Ana, thanks to her daughter's crisis, will take charge of her life and her decisions. As I am also doing in a way during the process of this film."

Marta Nieto is still pursuing her career as an actress and combines projects in Spain (we recently saw her acting in Edén [+see also:
trailer
interview: Estefanía Cortés
film profile], and she will premiere three projects in September: La manzana de oro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jaime Chávarri, Verano en rojo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Belén Macías and Un pasado por delante, by Olga Osorio), in Italy (in 2022 we saw her in Breaking Up in Rome [+see also:
trailer
film profile], under the orders of Edoardo Leo) and in France (Edouard Sallier’s Tropic [+see also:
trailer
film profile] which screened in Sitges, and Yann Gozlan’s Visions will premiere in September).

La mitad de Ana is a production by Elastica Films, Avalon, Mr. Fields and Friends Cinema and Studiocanal. It is financed by the Comunidad de Madrid, ICAA and Institut Valencià de Cultura (IVC) and with the participation of RTVE and Movistar Plus+. It is distributed by Elastica Films.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)