Review Fix Exclusive: Carlota Pereda Talks ‘Piggy’ And More

Review Fix chats with ‘Piggy’ director Carlota Pereda to find out what inspired the film and more.

Review Fix: Why is the topic of this film important today?

Carlota Pereda: Body shaming and bullying are on the rise, with social media making it impossible to escape. In Spain, last year there was a 240% increase in cases. And that’s just the ones we know about.

Review Fix: What inspired this film?

Pereda: I’d recently become a mom and was scared of the world my baby girl would have to face. That summer I was in Villanueva de la Vera, at the same springs pool where the short was shot and I saw a teenager who always went there by herself when there was no one around. I started wondering why, and it kind of triggered my own fears and anxieties.

Review Fix: How difficult was this film to put together?

Pereda: Both Mario Madueño from Pantalla Partida and Luis Angel Ramírez believed in its potential and the importance of the theme, and their experience in the business helped make it pretty seamless.

Review Fix: Tell me about the cast.

Pereda: That was the hard part. It took me two years to find Laura Galán. I needed someone with her talent and confidence, who knows her own self-worth, to be able to make the movie I wanted to make, without compromising. Once she was on board the rest of the cast jumped right in, with talents such as Elisabet Casanovas and Mireia Villapiugh.

Review Fix: What was the feeling like on set?

Pereda: It was great. Everybody was super focused on telling Sara’s story. We all loved her and suffered with her. It was very easy and, at the same time, an electric atmosphere. I saw a tear in the eyes of my script supervisor, and he’s been in the business for 17 years with major films and TV shows behind him. All due to the terrific work of our cast.

Review Fix: How have the audiences been reacting to Piggy (Cerdita)?

Pereda: It’s been great. It has moved people and sparked debate. Not a day goes by without people writing to me about it or schools asking for a showing. It’s exactly what we were hoping for. Also, it’s doing exceptionally well at festivals and that’s helped a lot.

Review Fix: What films have inspired it the most?

Pereda: Who can Kill a Child by Chicho Ibañez Serrador, for its horror in plain daylight, the Stranger by the Lake, by Alain Guiraudie for it’s amazing sound design and the thread that lurks in our everyday life and the work of Bong Joon-ho and the way he mixes genres always truthful to the social reality of his country.

Review Fix: What have you learned about yourself through this entire process?

Pereda: That you cannot compromise. You have to be sincere to be able to communicate.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Pereda: I’m working on my first feature and am about to release my next short film “There Will be Monsters”.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?– 

Pereda: I don’t think film can change the world but it can show you a different reality, make you walk in someone else’s shoes. Representation does matter.