When José Cabanach, director of ‘Intermittent Spring’, offered her “the best gift of life” by pairing her with veteran Emma Ozores, Paula Ezcurra didn’t know how hers would change. The medium-length film, which seeks to give visibility to people with bipolar disorder, serves this young woman from Bilbao to bury the many “prejudices” that continue to surround this mental illness. He argues that it is “very easy to get confused” with depression when it is “in a very embryonic stage. I never imagined the impact of this project for those who suffer from this condition. I am very moved and I understand that disease. For me, it’s an honor,” he said.
However, Ezcurra also feels “a great responsibility” to address such an emotional reality. There are more delicate topics to touch on and it is very brave to talk about them. That’s why I feel very lucky and appreciated,” he defended. The film, which is 30 minutes long and took almost four months to shoot, was screened at the end of June at the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences in Madrid . It received rave reviews at the festivals where it was screened and will likely begin touring more theaters in the coming months. “Many viewers left moved,” he applauded.
The project, led by Basque professor Ana González-Pinto and sponsored by the Spanish Foundation of Psychiatry and Mental Health (FEPSM), emphasizes the need to “normalize” bipolar disorder and “eliminate stigmas”, more to promote “early treatment” to promote the “complete social participation” of those affected.
In ‘Intermittent Spring’, Paula, 26 years old and daughter of Beatriz Marcos, former PP councilor in the Bilbao City Council, stepped into Laura’s shoes. After being diagnosed, his life “intersects” that of Emma Ozores, a former patient who tries to help him, focusing on “mutual support” therapy. Through these parallel lives “you can see how the character of Emma Ozores saved me and how I saved her,” reflects Paula, who believes that she came away “very moved, but positive,” from a professional experience pointing to this “unique time. ” disease from two perspectives, “both manic and depressive. Now I see life with a different look. Everyone has someone close to them with this condition. It may be it’s a bit cliché, but it helped me become a better person and get rid of some nonsense in my mind.
After the debut of Disney Chanel in the series ‘Coco&Lana’ and finding a place in the successful ‘Amar es para siempre’, Paula discovered that it is a disease “more common than we believe” and that “on many occasions” it is poorly diagnosed. Also that it should be faced “from hope.” “Sometimes we see bipolar disorder only from the bad side, in patients who live ‘tied’ to pills or are in the hospital,” he elaborates.
“This job helped me become a better person and get rid of some nonsense in my mind”
“You think they are selfish”
The medium-length film became, in this sense, “an awakening” for this artist who studied Dramatic Art and Audiovisual Communication and dreamed of becoming an actress since she saw Clara Lago in ‘Carol’s Journey’. “I discovered a case very close to me thanks to ‘Intermittent Spring’,” he confessed. “I don’t know why that woman is behaving so strangely. “I don’t understand why sometimes he’s so happy and other times he won’t get out of bed,” she said.
“It’s infuriating. You judge these people and even consider them selfish. ‘But aunty, what are you doing to me?’” he asked himself for a few moments. He dispels all doubts when he begins to “get to know Laura’s character more deeply.” A gift that came to him in the most unexpected way, without having to do with the casting, when the director contacted him directly after receiving a recommendation from his friend. “It is not so easy for someone to trust you blindly,” he thanked after receiving the best gift that life offered him.
