synopsis

Noelia is about to turn 30. She lives on the outskirts of Barcelona and works nights in a gas station. During the day, she distributes junk mail. She has no free time. She finally quits her night job and leaves the house she shares with Rosa. She doesn't say goodbye to anyone and leaves no trace as to her whereabouts. She works hard all day, has no friends and doesn't look for any. She seems anonymous, just one more young woman in any big city surrounded by people like Lucas, Nico, Rosa, the boss, who all have their little conflicts, their little hopes, their little daily struggle to survive. The straight line is an urban story about a young woman, Noelia, who behaves as the same city where she lives in, growing and moving forward in an imaginary straight line that takes her from a work to another, from a house to another, wandering aimlessly without stopping, without a break and without knowing where she is going to.

prizes and awards

IFF Gijón 2006 - Official Selection

IFF Buenos Aires 2007 - Official Selection

IFF San Sebastian 2007 - Made in Spain

Madridimagen 2007 - Official Selection

IFF Estoril 2007 - Official Selection

Annecy Spanish Cinema Biennial 2008- Official Selection

Cinelatino Film Festival 2008 - Official Selection

“We fool ourselves into believing we're something special, but in reality we're just the result of a chemical process, a biological impulse, a genetic deviation. It's going to be a cruel film, and I really like that.”


Michelangelo Antonioni

notes
of intention

  La línea recta is an open film focusing on the life of a character, the insignificant daily events of ordinary life and the passing of time, as seen through the eyes that, from some distance, observe Noelia, the leading actress, in her working and social environment during a brief period of time of approximately a month. Noelia's relationships with her work colleagues, the woman with whom she shares an apartment, the hallways of the buildings where she delivers commercial leaflets serve as the setting for a plot without major events that does not employ the characteristic resources of conventional fiction. There is no beginning or end, or transformation of characters. Noelia's life is reflected on the screen without major events, with its ups and downs, its little surprises and its high doses of everyday life.

The significant subject here is the inherent lightness of the insignificant and ephemeral.


I have tried to keep the expressive resources of fiction to their minimum intensity, as the aim was to present the characters on the screen most naturally, moving away from dramatic interpretation. During the filming we combined the techniques specific to fictional films with others from documentary films. The voices and situations taking place in the hallways of apartments are authentic, taken from hidden sound recordings. The structure of the film is based on the relationship between the characters and their environment and the succession of seemingly straightforward images lacking dramatic content. Personally, I have tried to propose the most transparent perspective possible by providing the characters and the spectator with full leadership. At the end of the day, it is the spectator who will complete the film with his own interpretation.

Bio-filmografía

José María de Orbe Klingenberg,
scriptwriter and director

San Sebastián, 1958

He starts his film labour as director assistant and making some S-8 and 16mm short-films. In 1982, he co-produces the feature film Héctor, directed by Carlos Pérez-Ferre and with the actor Ovidi Montllor playing the main character, selected in IFF Berlin 1982 and awarded with several internationals prizes. In 1984, José Mª de Orbe gets a Full Bright grant to study Filmmaking in the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, Ca., being the first Spanish student in the Speciality of Film Direction in this institution. Back to Spain in 1986, he works as director of commercials, winning some international prizes in Cannes, New York, San Sebastian, FIAP, etc. At the same time, he was dedicated to the writing of scripts and the documentary project De Chillida a Hokusai, creación de una obra. In 2000, he meets Jaime Rosales and they decide to create, all together with María José Díez Álvarez, the film production company FRESDEVAL FILMS, with the intention of producing their own feature film projects, based in renewed criteria for independent filmmaking. So, in 2006, José María de Orbe makes his first feature film, La línea recta, written in collaboration with the critic and scriptwriter Daniel Vázquez Villamediana.

filmography

FEATURES FILM

La línea recta (2006)

SHORT-FILMS

Lifeguard, 17 min, B/N, Video.

Jonathan what the hell, 21min, B/N, video.

Neon, 14 min, Color, video.

"Personalmente, he intentado que mi mirada sea lo más transparente posible, tratando de ceder todo el protagonismo a los personajes y al espectador, que es quien debe de completar la película con su propia mirada."

international awards

As director:

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISEMENT FESTIVAL CANNES: Preservativos Personal, Bronze Lion
Blanco Nuclear, Bronze Lion
INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISEMENT FESTIVAL SAN SEBASTIAN: Blanco Nuclear, Bronze Sun Award
Gutierrez,Bronze Sun Award.

Other awards and short list in some international advertisement festivals as NEW YORK, FIAP, SAN SEBASTIAN, etc.

As producer:

Héctor, de Carlos Pérez Ferre.
Largometraje, 35mm, 90min, Color, 1982.
IFF San Sebastian.
2º Premio Nuevos Realizadores. Premio Mejor fotografía.
Premio de la UNESCO a los derechos humanos.
IFF Berlin
Mención especial del jurado. IFF Bastia Premio Especial del Jurado.
Premio de la Critica Internacional.
Premio del Público.
Mejor Interpretación Masculina (Ovidi Montllor).
SPANISH MINISTRY OF CULTURE Premio Especial Calidad del Ministerio de Cultura.
Las horas del día, de Jaime Rosales.
Un instante en la vida ajena, de J.L. López Linares
Largometraje documental, 35mm, 100 min. Color 2003.

 
imagen del cartel La línea recta