“Phantosmia”, interview with the director Lav Díaz

September 3, 2024

Lav Díaz, director of "Phantosmia", talks to FRED about this film out of competition in Venice 2024

"Phantosmia", interview with the director Lav Díaz David Martos

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Interview during the 81st edition of Venice International Film Festival with Lav Díaz, director of “Phantosmia“. The movie, out of competition here in Venice, tells the story of a former soldier in Philippines that begins to experiment a weird sensation: a smell that nobody else can smell. The a doctor tells him that he suffers an illness called phantosmia.

Our interview with the filmmaker addresses the length of the film -four hours-, its format -black and white- and how he considers that going to the cinema is a collective experience that we should defend. Lav Díaz tells us about the current situation in his country, where violence remains present in everyday’s life.

In “Phantosmia” a former member of the military is forced to review his past, full of that violence, in order to cure the mysterious illness he’s affected by. During the journey he’ll discover that memory can heal the wounds of the past.

Plot

Hilarion Zabala’s mysterious olfactory problem has recurred; a counselor/psychiatrist suspects it to be a lingering case of phantosmia, a phantom smell, and possibly caused by trauma, a deep psychological fracture. One recommended radical process to cure the ailment was that Hilarion must go back and deal with the darkest currents of his past life in the military service. Reassigned in the very remote Pulo Penal Colony, he must also confront the horrific realities of his present situation.

Written by: David Martos

Guest

Lav Diaz