Paipe also known as

2001- Short experimental science-fiction – 35mm – colour – Stereo
Runtime: 31’ (cinema version), 18’ (TV version) and 21’ (Director’s cut)
Language: Universal
Written and Directed by: Geppe Monrós
With Merche Ochoa …….. Diana
Johnny Melville …. Pa
Victor Goñi ………… Pe
Dani García ……….. Pua
Cinematography: Antonio Trullenque
Art Director: Tània Costa
Music: ‘In A Lonely Place’ by Joy Division covered by Lycia
‘Caolín Chorus’ directed by Helen Rowson
Country: Spain – France
Co-Produced by: Salto de Eje S.L. (Spain) – Neien Films S.A.R.L. (France)
Subsidised by: the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the ICCA (Ministry of Culture, Spain)

Synopsis
In a post-nuclear future, the survivors have lost the faculty of language…

Here you can watch a 7’50” summary of Paipe

The film was selected in some festivals such as: The Sitges Film Festival (Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya), FICMA, the International Environmental Film Festival

The symbol is the true title of the film but administrative requirements forced us to use a written one, so we called it Paipe.
This science fiction shoot was a challenge for the team who were accustomed to short movies shot in 2 or 3 days, in more or less realistic locations. This experimental production lasted 5 years. It took 18 months to prepare the project (a team of architect and designer friends drew the story boards, 4 painters made paintings of the ideas, I had to seek investment, raise money and launch a production company in France).
It had a long pre-production period with locations looked at in half the Iberian peninsula. Art Direction included preparing objects for sets over 3 months. The shooting process was an odyssey, we shot 16 days in 4 stages spread over 9 months and 2 centuries, in distant locations such as Cerdanya (Pyrenees), Alcañiz (Aragon), Barcelona, Bardenas Reales (Navarra) with temperatures from -8 C (and actors almost naked) till +40 C.
We had to duplicate sets and create special effects. In addition, each department had experimental requirements; red was forbidden (except twice), as was blue (especially the sky) and green. The suffering team, self-proclaimed “Sect Kaolin” (white clay powder on the main set). Everything was artisanal, except for the green ground caused by acid rain that was made digitally for ecological reasons.
I reached my personal challenge as executive producer: to finish the movie and finish it well. The goal as a director was to experience and learn. The opinions of the spectators were extreme, either they love it or they do not like it at all. In this film I experienced the ‘crossing the sight lines’ with an ending zoom-out followed by initial zoom-in with the characters against a uniform background.. and it worked! That is: ‘crossing the sight lines’ feeling disappears but transmits the ‘translational’ feeling. It was a theory that I had and for me it was proved true.
Thanks to all the team and the hundreds of individuals, companies and institutions that supported the project.

Note: This film was NOT edited by Elena Arroyo but by David Muñoz and Geppe Monrós at ‘La Truka’ premises, Barcelona.