Carla Simón

[press conference for Romería (2025) at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival] The word Romería does have a mystical meaning; it's a very religious word, it refers to a trip. The trip Marina makes is very mystical because she has to emotionally-speaking reconnect with her parents and reconnect with her childhood - that's the story. There's also another meaning to the word which came a bit later on. We're talking about the northern part of Spain, I love popular parties, festivities and I wanted to show these in the film, these traditions. I love to portray this kind of situation - the film also refers to that meaning. There are a lot of fictional elements. I met a part of my family, when I was more or less the same age as Llúcia [Llúcia Garcia], but not all of the family. I met them in Madrid because some of them lived there and the trip to Galicia came a bit later on. The emotions I felt, my curiosity and my frustration regarding not really being able to fully understand my parents' story were very real and a part of me and that was the driving force behind the film. It was a very real starting point. You have this family history depicted in a very short period. My family is bigger than what you see in the film, so it's not all autobiographical. There were also fictional elements I included so that the story would work.