PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Nina Danino, director of the film I Die of Sadness Crying for You.
In the experimenta section of the 2019 London Film Festival, Nina Danino brings to the audience her affinity with vocal performance and her 7 years research on “copla”, a performance of women’s sorrow in I Die of Sadness Crying for You. By mixing archive footage like the performances by the diva of copla, Marifé de Triana, with newly shot footage, Nina Danino wonders if women of copla ever existed and while doing that, she investigates on the true meaning of experimental film.
I Die of Sadness Crying for You: A personal essay film on the powerful copla genre of Spanish music, a form of popular song that flourished in the 1930s and 40s. Copla communicates a specifically female sorrow and sadness from failed, often illegitimate, relationships that result in unrequited love or ostracism. Filmmaker Nina Danino reveals the strength and texture of copla performances, reappraising for a contemporary audience whilst revisiting her own memories of her mother singing.