‘Far From the Trees’ Director Meritxell Colell on Turning Exile and Endangered Languages Into a ‘Body of Memory’

In ‘Far From the Trees’ (‘Lejos de los árboles’), Meritxell Colell’s film premieres in Locarno’s international competition as a Spain-Italy-Peru production by Allegra Films. The story follows Adela, a 50-year-old Mexican sound artist who travels from the Peruvian jungle to the Andes to document endangered languages, continuing her grandfather’s work as a Catalan Republican exiled in Mexico. News of her grandmother’s possible death fractures her journey, plunging her into childhood memories, family silences, and surreal visions. Colell’s film emerged from personal and artistic impulses: the inability to say goodbye and the connection between sound, memory, and exile. Initially inspired by displaced sound artists, she encountered Angélica Castelló, a Mexico-born composer whose grandfather also faced exile. The film’s narrative centers on hybrid identities shaped by migration, exile, and artistic vocation. Adela’s journey transforms her grandfather’s political and anthropological work into art, weaving a sound map of endangered languages in Peru and Catalan exile. The grandfather, an activist-anthropologist, dedicated his life to preserving native languages in Mexico, fleeing Franco’s suppression of non-Spanish languages in Catalonia. Colell’s film is an ode to languages, multilingualism, and the power of sound in cinema. Shot in Super 16mm without synchronized sound, the film features fragmented scenes of memories, visions, and reveries, with voices recorded separately to create a sonic tapestry. Castelló’s presence reshaped the film over years of collaboration, though Colell ensured Adela remains fictional. Producer Mayca Sanz L-Higueras assembled the project in 2021, with international financing from Ibermedia, Exit Media, Animalita Cine, and RTVE. Filming took place in five blocks over a year, beginning in February 2024 and concluding in July 2025, with Teresita Sánchez’s scenes filmed in Peru. Colell’s personal journey—becoming a mother during production—highlighted the challenges of fragmented filming. The editing process revealed how the disjointed timeline created a cohesive narrative. The film’s success at Locarno validates Colell’s ambition to create an open, emotionally resonant cinema. She hopes viewers will reflect on exile, memory transmission, and the role of sound in shaping identity. ‘Far From the Trees’ explores the complexities of distance—its burdens and liberations—while questioning who stays, who leaves, and who inherits responsibility. Adela’s strained relationship with her grandmother’s caregivers underscores these themes. Colell’s statement, ‘I am a permanent foreigner. My home is sound,’ encapsulates the film’s central quest: to make sound itself a refuge and a form of memory.