EP.46 Interview with Ana Asensio

On this episode of the Newbies to Movies Podcast, host Justin sits down with acclaimed Spanish actress and filmmaker Ana Asensio to discuss her highly anticipated sophomore feature film, Goat Girl (La niña de la cabra). The conversation weaves through the nostalgic streets of 1988 Madrid, analyzing how the movie captures the fragile and unfinished nature of childhood. Justin and Ana dive deep into the filmmaking techniques required to maintain a strictly child ’s-eye perspective while tackling heavy themes like grief, religion, and social prejudice. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hi, welcome back to Newbies to Movies. My name is Justin, and we have a very special episode this week. We're incredibly excited to welcome a phenomenal filmmaker to the show, director Anna Asenzio.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Thank you. Hi there.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Yeah, so you might know Anna from her intense debut thriller, A Most Beautiful Island, that took home the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. And now she joins us to talk about her sophomore feature, Goat Girl. The film was originally made in 2025, and we're thrilled to have her on this week. And it's kind of set in the suburbs of 1988 Madrid. It is a deeply moving, nostalgic coming-of-age story about childhood innocence, rigid traditions, forbidden friendship that kind of changes everything. And it's all through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl. And it's a really beautiful masterpiece. I really enjoyed watching it this week. But before we fight dive fully into that, we do always like to have our guests tell us kind of what's your favorite movies and genres to watch in your own free time. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, that's one of the reasons we started this podcast to really dive into a lot of different stuff we wouldn't uh typically, you know, just see in the theaters per se. But yeah, so kind of getting into the movie, um, what made you kind of shift from being uh an actor and director and and going into this one, just directing? How was it to kind of take a step back in that sense?

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah, so you know when I always told myself but when we got into production and we were looking for the girl, you know, the streets of Madrid, I realized that the only lies a hundred percent on the shoulders of this little girl. And that meant like she would need me a hundred percent at all times, and I I felt that playing her mother, it would it would have taken some time for myself and away from her. And you know, being also the director, I I thought that I couldn't I couldn't let that happen. I had to be there for her and for the film, and you know, and then I thought that was but all through the creation of it, I kept thinking that I was going to play her mother, but I think it was the right decision I was able to be.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, that's really awesome to hear. So obviously, Goat Girl feels deeply personal to you and kind of reflects the 1980s Madrid childhood. How much of Elena's story would you say was autobiography? And what specific memory would you say, yeah, I have to make this a movie?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So it uh neighborhood, and uh and this uh the moment that was that framed the story, the uh May 1998, saying uh all the elements that happened there happened. All of them are facts, and I remember very vividly this kidnapping of this businessman by the Terrorist cook in Spain. So that was going to be the uh preparation for the uh first communion and the priest really resembles more, at least my memory, the one I had when I was little. So that comes from that uh as well from my own sources. However, like the family has nothing to do with my family, so kind of like this idea uh how it would have been to have a grandmother kind of like also make it more healing than it's not like that people would be at Venom.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, yeah. Awesome. And with kind of diving into the plot, this film really dives into the innocence of childhood friendship, uh, but definitely leaning towards more mature realities we can see as adults, as viewers. How did you kind of approach the pacing of the film to ensure that the plot felt like a natural slice of life rather than kind of forcing the high-stakes drama that we see in a typical Hollywood movies today?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Well, you know, uh one of the real is a danger. I mean, I remember so vividly when my mom would say, Oh, it's gonna be at 9 p.m. today, and I'd be like, Oh, the whole afternoon is only five, four hours, four hours as an adult, like nothing, you know? Wow, the length of the summer. Oh my god, the length of a summer the length of a summer was brutal. So I wanted to capture how hello the time it is when you're little, and uh and therefore I I thought that the way to film it and and the way to process every single scene had to feel long, very long, you know. I hope I'm not scaring the audience, but uh the whole point is to really bring you into the eight-year-old girl, and so the more sensorial, the more you feel like you are that child, you know, the more will you capture and understand the the story and the journey that she goes through.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah, and then kind of diving into that with the characters. Uh obviously we have Elena and Sarah Zod being such a big part, and I would call it the heart of the film. And how did you kind of develop uh the character of Sarah Zod to ensure she felt real and kind of like a layered child rather than just a symbol of freedom for Elena?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah, I hope that not too loud here, just for viewers.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

No, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

So there's all sorts of noises around me uh the lobby of of uh of cinema in New York City. So you know the movie's playing right now and people walking into violence. But I also wanted to create this idea that you know, you when you find someone who's very different than you and your life as a kid, you felt this instant attraction, it's magnetic. Like, how did you do things? How do so it was very important that that was initially uh shown and and introduced as um how kids see things, right? This you know, aura of uh magic in a way, but then to bring it down very realistic and and who this girl really was, the romanico that Helena needs and wants to desperately be her friend. So you know, it was a combination of of of playing with how the imagination of the children transforms things, even the colors, even the sparkles around, and then grounding it to when the traumatic moments hit to make it very specific to you know no, this is not that beautiful as you might have to imagine. This is her life, you know, living in a you know campsite and not have you know regular water running into your house and to walk for a long, long time to get a bucket of water and kind of like understanding that there's a different lifestyle and make it up.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah. And then with the uh cinematography of this movie, you obviously decided to capture the whole film through Elena's eyes. What kind of conversations did you have with your cinematographer or director of photography about camera placement, lighting, and to kind of ground the audio the audience in this eight-year-old's perspective?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So one thing that was very clear from from the beginning for me was that the camera had to be eye-level with Elena, the main character. Uh, I wanted to see only what she would see and how she would see it. So if you're at this height, so you just barely see above it the tabletop. And therefore, that's what we're gonna see, right? I didn't want to to have the audience being an observer of Elena, but rather the Elena, Elena's eyes, and get as close as possible to her. So the first half of the film has a one specific approach to the camera, and I always also knew that the second half had to have a different approach, a different story. So the camera steps back and and her world widen and we frame the two girls rather than just having Elena. So, you know, this these things I had very clear in my mind that I wanted to look that way. And when I discussed it with him, he got very excited and on board, and and you know, and he you know jumped on on it, and it was an opportunity to do something more unconventional than than what he had done at that at that point. So yeah, it was it was exciting. I mean, I I I'm very visual. So when I write the script, I I almost you can see where the camera is gonna be placed and what he's gonna be framing out and framing in. So I had very clear ideas coming into the shoot. That's what uh what I want to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah, I definitely appreciated this film because of the cinematography. That's a big thing we always talk about on on our show. So I definitely appreciated it. Kind of with the uh the children, uh obviously children don't always have the best uh vocabulary, especially when it comes to things like uh grief and confusion, yet you know, children they absorb everything around them. How did you kind of approach the dialogue for the kids? As it really felt authentic, I felt like, and they it still conveyed a very deep emotional weight as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, so you know, I love children always, and I when I'm with children, I I just uh become another child, basically. I bring whatever age that the children are to myself and to the way I communicate. So I knew that I had to speak their language in order to understand. And so I wrote things, but I had my doubts, of course. I said, would you say it this way? And and if if they felt like that was not right, they would say it to me. And if something was complete to say, I would be like, this is giving me the wrong vibe because you shouldn't be trying so hard to say something. That means that it's way too too advanced for you. So let's let's figure out another way to tell this moment that I think is important with in a children's way. Um, so it was kind of like you know, a flexible collaboration of what I wanted to say, but making sure that for sure they would say their way, because otherwise it would sound forced.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, that's really cool to hear about the collaboration between director and actor. I think that's so important and what makes film so great. You know, getting into the set design too, obviously, 1988 Madrid. What specific details were you like, I have to make sure that this goes into the film the right way? Obviously, we had things like uh the Catholic classrooms as well as the courtyard, the apartment complex. What really stood out and said, Yeah, I have to nail this?

SPEAKER_01 11:07

It was, you know, from the very beginning, I remember talking to the production designer as this movie has two parts, two clear parts, the the real world and the magical world, and then the third world that was when, you know, not too spoiled, but the third part of the third act of the film, right? So there's very distinctive worlds and camera work and style, it shifts from one act to the next. One, and so I I I remember telling her that for me it was very, very important that her world is very narrow, like all children. So in the first world, it's just home charts in school. And we're gonna see very little because the camera is so close to Elena at all times. But whatever we see has to be accurate, to be period accurate, and and and so we searched for the right neighborhood that we created. It was a combination of different uh areas that will make us feel that that was the neighborhood, the school, the school playground. We painted it in tones that make sense or the color palette that we designed for the film. And then the apartment we were very lucky because we we didn't have much uh budget to put together uh an authentic-looking 80s apartment. And we found one apartment that was being for sale listed, and we asked them if they would rent it for us for a few days so we could shoot all the interior scenes. And this apartment was kept intact since the 70s because there was a dispute on the wheel, couldn't get together, you know, an agreement, so they closed, and now they decided to open up and they put it for sale. But everything, like the light switches, everything was authentic from that period, the 70s. And I thought it was even better than what I would have imagined, because in this economical um, you know, the social stratos that the family is in the story, they would not have been updating the apartment. Oh, now it's 88. Let's have it the last, you know, uh the last style table that came out in the market a few years ago. No, no, I it like in my apartment growing up, there was wallpaper from the 70s. So it felt like everything is is even more dated because of that, but it's it's because you know, it's because of the the the the um the possibilities, the economical possibilities, you're not upgrading your apartment all the time. So it was great. So it was just perfect. It was just exactly like that. We changed a few things, but uh even kept furniture for the for the film, and then the props were all authentic from the 80s. We were able to find it in something similar to eBay, a platform that is in in Spain that sells used and old items. So even the clothing is is is from the era, like everything. There's nothing fake that doesn't belong to that period.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

That's so awesome with the apartment. Because I mean, what are the odds, you know, something like that works out? That's really cool to hear. And that's you know, part of the magic of the movies.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

That was like such black, such, you know, like it was such a blessing. Like, it's is impossible those things to happen. In fact, it was another thing that I I was like, okay, today because the weather was so bad and it was not matching the lighting from another thing that I wanted to insert the scene that I scene that I shot after I finished the main production, and everyone was so worried, or it's rainy, it's weird. And I was like, no, you know what? I think all this is happening because I'm gonna get a rainbow. And sure enough, I got a rainbow. Haven't seen a rainbow in Madrid. I don't even know, since I was a little girl, and that day I got a rainbow. That rainbow that comes out in the movie is real, and I was just it's just I'm putting so much love into this film. I mean, this film is a labor of love. This film is not made for making money, I guarantee you, for so long in the film. There was just I put so much love because I really deeply care about this story, and and I felt like good things happened to me during the production because of that. I don't know. I believe in this energy that you put out, and things come back to you.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

They definitely do. So you cast uh Alessandra Gonzalez and Junkal uh Fernandez, who had no previous uh acting experience, at least from what I could see. And as an actress as yourself, what was your technique for kind of guiding the young girls to give such you know raw, beautiful performances? I know you talked about working with them a l a little bit ago.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, so um and that was the most important thing. They always feel like they were having fun and this was happening. At the same time, I'd be very stern with the concept that this is theory, right? Meaning whatever we accomplish, we're gonna have to lock it and repeat it later on. And we might have to repeat it several times because that's how films are made. You have more than one take. But so it was through playful games and finding a language that they could understand, because often I would be very, very specific, especially with Elena, uh with Alessandra, and say, Oh, show me this uh little uh subtle anguish, and she would be like, I was like, Oh, you don't know, you don't understand what anguish means, but no, I was like, Okay, right, right. So, and then I will find another word to try to explain, wanting to be super specific, but of course, you know, they can't understand certain things, right? So, and when the word has a different uh sense sensibility than Elena, Elena is Alexandra is very technical, very prosthetic, a perfectionist, and playing Cerezade, she is a free spirit herself, and she would be like, I just want to do this because I would do it, and it was like, I know, but you are not you, you are Ceresade. It's like, hmm, I know, but I wouldn't do this. I was like, I'm not you. You remember your Cerezade? And she's like, Okay, okay, I don't get it, but fine, I'll do it for you. But like, it was like she's her own, she's a she's a wild, uh funny, funny girl and very charming. But it was very different to pick with one and the other. Often I had to take pull them aside and don't say the same thing to the two of them together because that was chaos. It was a different understanding from both parts.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. Also, kind of a funny question, but I've always been curious about in filmmaking when working with live animals, what was it kind of working with uh how was it working with the live goat at the in the third act of this movie, mainly? How was there anything that ever went wrong? Is it not cooperating ever?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Listen, working with with a goat, and goats don't follow any directions, they do whatever they want, they're stubborn, and on top of that, she got pregnant right before the shoot. So she was highly sensitive. It was the hottest summer I had experienced in Madrid. It was so hot. She was she could only work for five hours altogether. She had to have a lot of breaks. Uh, the animal wrangler was, you know, very careful with her and everything. We had to be basically working around her as if we had a Hollywood start on set. And then on top of that, she didn't do anything I wanted. I would say, okay, you know, I had this visual, this is gonna happen, and then when we do this, the code is gonna turn her head. Oh no, forget about it. I would do this, I would do ring ring, I would do anything. And the goat would be like, not moving. Oh no, no, she would do all these catalogical things also on set, whenever it was like, Cut, we can't, no, okay, can somebody come and clean this? Listen, I do not recommend anyone to work with goats in a film. It was like, yeah, the goat was cute, but listen, uh no, no, no, not no, no. Too rebellious for me.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

And then kind of diving into the soundtrack, uh, I really enjoyed the score of this movie. I think it plays a uh a huge role in kind of balancing the realism in Madrid, but also like you were talking about the magical fame fable elements of Elena's mind. What was kind of your directive for the music to ensure it didn't quite overpower um the intimate moments?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

So again, that was part of like the concept of the three different worlds. Well, actually, four, because then we have the the dreams, right? That's a separate story. But so I wanted to make sure that in the first part of the film where everything is grounded and and gray, the gray world, I I used to call it for Elena. There was no music, there was no sound channel. There was only the um diegetic kind of music that would have play in scenes. So that was very, very important for me. Uh then there was the other world with with the you know, everything that is related to Seretade has this score that I wanted to be rich and wondery and like magical and had all these sort of elements and the composer. I went a theater lobby, so there's all sorts of soundtrack. But uh the the the you know the the soundtrack had to to be like really big, you know, in that sense. It had to be special and magical. And he he worked, you know, creating this beautiful music. I I loved it so much. But yeah, so it was kind of like it has to be there, but nowhere else. And then because the composer is also the sound designer, I often, with my previous film as well, I didn't want any score, and then the score came again from the sound designer who composed the score too. So it took the two times happened the same thing. I was like, you know, for me, the sound is the score, the sounds informed informs us to the the you know, the the state of the character, the the the situation that is happening, the atmosphere. So uh there was a rich sound design, especially in the first half of the film where there are things informing us, the neighborhood, the playground, you know, things like that. So it was to me, it's part of the in in a way, the the score, the music, the everything that comes and and brings you to this world, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah. Yeah. I've always been uh a big fan on how you know music and sound design in general kind of carry heavy themes and movies. I think that's really important. So with this film, obviously it contrasts uh heavily religious ideas versus kind of the free-spirited ideas. What do you really hope audience take away with them regarding the themes of classism, religion, and free will as well?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So in a way, I take it as a cautionary tale. It could be, you know, like children are pure humans that are starting to understand the world and they have their own pace. And and we uh as adults we come with imposing meanings of words, and and so we tell them this is different, this is dangerous, this is scary. think that if we were more careful about that that you know we'll be living in a different world especially allowing children to have their own time and and don't put prejudice them into them because it's fine if you as an adult have your prejudice and but children should not have prejudices and sh children should not be outcast outcasting other children because they're different. So I think that that's that's to me is important. You know I I that's the thing that I care the most and I I think that we live in a society that as globalized as it is is is also very separatist and and cruel with one another and I think that you know we have to be careful with children allow them to show us that kindness is there too you know and not seeing the differences because they don't see it.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

We are the ones telling them you know so I guess that yeah and then I did a little bit of research uh before this you had previously mentioned you were influenced by the the dark imagery of the painter Francisco Goya and then also uh anti-fascist poet uh Leon Felipe how did those kind of how did you balance those heavier influences with obviously a a tender family drama like this?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

So I think that keeping the perspective of the eight-year-old girl is what allowed me to put some heavy concepts into the film and hopefully don't sound pretentious just because is the eye and the ear of an eight year old girl perceiving these things and and I hope it's not getting as pounding concepts to just you know remark remark it so much what I wanted to say but but rather what what you you know what a girl could perhaps understand and you know just the essence of what what that painting meant because it's been told to her and so I think that just filming it with the gaze of uh with a girl helped to to don't make those concepts too too heavy but rather free for the audience to take it or leave it or think about it or just you know kind of like yeah don't put too much into you know influence into that yeah and then one more question I could have uh I thought the editing was beautifully done in this movie. I liked the transition between obviously the real world and then Elena's dreamlike world what was kind of the biggest challenging when editing this film trying to stitch together those two um and make a clear picture for the audience so well first of all one of the things that were um not easy is that I didn't have that much material uh shot because it's a very short uh shoot and so there was not so much to play with but I work with a great editor and he's so experienced his he's a well-known editor won multiple awards and work all through all sort of film genre right and and he allowed me freedom as opposed to tell as opposed to telling me this is what you should do and this is what you shouldn't do he said I I would come up with ideas and he would say if you want to do it I would be like but can I can we do this? And the majority of the time he said we can do whatever we want Anna go for it. So that was so liberal because he had so much experience and I trusted him so much and he really became my friend because he cared deeply about the film and there was obviously a few times that he would say no and I I wouldn't apply to this I think it's gonna be not not original but maybe just too jarring and too you know and I listened to him because of that because he gave me so much trust so that was that was a wonderful experience I learned so much through the through the edit and but it didn't come so as easy as I imagined I have to say to figure out how can I create this magical world when I think I have the right or enough footage or but again the music comes and all this elements that make films you know what they are which is great.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Yeah awesome awesome well we appreciate having you on and uh congratulations on on your all your success on the film.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Any other remarks you have for the audience before we head out no I mean I hope that uh people miss their inner health as much as I do and they feel like attracted to come to see a movie that really brings your inner child out and and it it puts pause on the hectic time that we live like you know the rush that we're always and it's just all of a sudden you take a pause for an hour and thirty minutes and you're transported to another time.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah yeah thank you well of course anytime thank you so much for coming on and hopefully we'll see you in the movies. Bye bye