‘Far From the Trees’ Director Meritxell Colell on Turning Exile and Endangered Languages Into a ‘Body of Memory’
“Far From the Trees”, premiering in Locarno’s international competition, follows Adela, a 50-year-old Mexican sound artist recording endangered languages as she travels from the Peruvian jungle to the Andes. Her work continues that of her Catalan Republican grandfather, but news that her grandmother may be dying forces her to confront family silences, childhood memories and visions shaped by exile. Director Meritxell Colell presents the film as an exploration of how migration, loss and language can form a shared “body of memory”.
Colell conceived the project after the death of a close relative in 2020, initially wanting to examine the inability to say goodbye and its connection to sound. She drew inspiration from composer Angélica Castelló’s family history, then created the fictional Adela rather than directly retelling her own story. The Spain-Italy-Peru production links Indigenous languages at risk in Peru with the legacy of Catalan exile under Franco, whose regime suppressed languages other than Castilian Spanish.
- A sound artist’s journey explores exile, grief and endangered languages.
- The film premieres in Locarno’s international competition.
- Colell links personal loss with Catalan and Indigenous language histories.
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The film centres on Adela, a Mexican sound artist who records languages spoken by small communities in Peru. Many such languages are at risk of disappearing as fewer people speak them, and recording them can preserve sounds, words and stories for future generations.
Adela’s work is linked to her Catalan grandfather, who left Spain after the Spanish Civil War. General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, which lasted from 1939 to 1975, promoted Castilian Spanish and restricted the public use of languages including Catalan, adding to the experience of exile for many families.
The story connects endangered languages with the effects of migration, bereavement and family secrets across generations. Its title and central idea suggest that memories can be carried not only in documents or stories, but also in voices, bodies and the languages people speak.