Director Juan Vicente Chuliá presented Halffter 90 Compases [Halffter, 90 Beats], a documentary that reviews the artistic and life trajectory of composer Cristóbal Halffter, who died on May 23rd, and that participates in the section DOC.Spain section at the 66th edition of Seminci.
“I am nobody worthy of describing the figure of Cristóbal,” admits Chuliá. For the director, Halffter was “an extraordinary 90-year-old who maintained extraordinary lucidity.” In a presentation prior to the screening of the film, his son Pedro Halffter highlighted the ideals that characterised his father: “The legacy he left us was through his discipline, rigour and behaviour.”
Pedro Halffter highlighted the role of his mother as a key figure in the course of the artist’s life. “Now that we are so aware of the figure of women, the figure of my father could not be explained without the figure of my mother,” he explained. Halffter’s son cannot explain his father’s achievements without referring to his mother, the person who brought the composer to Villafranca del Bierzo: “Something that is visible but not perceptible is the figure of my mother, who was the person who brought him to Villafranca.” According to producer María José Gómez, the collaboration with the town of Villafranca del Bierzo was fundamental in the filming of the feature-length film. “It has been a mutual commitment, a commitment to Bierzo,” she said. The artist will be remembered, in the words of Pedro Halffter, for his “immaterial heritage, greater than the house in Villafranca” that witnessed his career.
