No Competition Favorites Yet Midway into the festival, no clear buzz is centered around any competition film, nor any deals as San Sebastian has no market. Several Spanish films stand out nonetheless, the opening film La Comunidad (Commonwealth) by Alex de la Iglesia, Francisco Lombardi’s Tinta Roja, the Mexican road movie Sin Dejar Huella (Without A Trace) by Maria Novaro and El Otro Barrio (The Other Side) by Salvador Garcia. El otro Barrio is not exactly what you would call a funny movie. But it does have its light moments, diffused into what is otherwise a somber analysis of the evils of parental legacy. Salvador Garcia is the very picture of his film: intense eyes that stare at you, and a sharp sense of humour that juts here and there in a speed of delivery that would put Woody Allen to shame. Salvador Garcia's comments on his film. "At first it seemed to me impossible to find a kid capable of portraying a character so complex as that of Ramon. A very introverted character with very little dialogue. So I thought that maybe I would find a kid that would give me something similar to what I expected, but not what I truly wanted. But at the same time, Miguel Hernandez was preparing his new film, and he showed me casting tapes of young boys. And that's when I found my actors. At first I wondered how I was going to communicate with two young adolescents. In my everyday life, I'm surrounded with adults and I don't often get to be with children. But all my fears disappeared during the rehearsals, which lasted about one month." "I did not treat them in any way different from the rest of the group. And I even became oblivious to the fact that they were neither adults nor professional actors. They listened to me very carefully. But sometimes, after a long briefing about what a scene required from them, they would ask me: "OK, Salvador, but do you want us to look to the right or to the left?" (laughs) "I avoided as much as possible showing them on the set what a character would do, how he would move, because when I did that, they felt tempted to mimic me, and I really wanted them to take their own marks. What happened with the dialogues is worthy of note. Most lines of dialogue were faithfully taken from the book." "I said to Jorge and Alberto: "These are the lines which you have to learn by heart. But if there is any line you don't feel comfortable with, you may change it." And what happened was that they were absolutely unable to say a line which they didn't feel at ease with. So I immediately knew what worked and what did not. That was wonderful..."