• The Hungarian filmmaker, a familiar face at SEMINCI, is coming to Valladolid for the fourth time to open the festival with My Notes on Mars, a unique film about romantic relationships and the possibility of rebuilding
• Actress Mackenzie Davis, the film’s co-star, joined the director at the press conference, where they discussed the process of developing the characters and their foray into science fiction

Lili Horvát, winner of the Golden Espiga and the Pilar Miró Award in 2020 for Preparations for Being Together for an Unknown Period of Time, returns to SEMINCI to present the Spanish premiere of her latest film, My Notes on Mars, which opens the 71st edition of the festival. She will be joined by Mackenzie Davis, the film’s lead actress and a star known for her work in Black Mirror, The Martian, Blade Runner 2049, and the new Netflix series Below.

Love and Science Fiction

My Notes on Mars follows the story of a fractured marriage: that of Sam, played by Rupert Friend (Pride and Prejudice, Asteroid City), and Margot, portrayed by Davis, a scientist who suffers an accident and reappears some time later at her own funeral. With no memory of her previous life, this strange event presents itself as a second chance to try to rebuild what has been lost.

The blending of genres is something Horvát arrived at organically. “The first idea I had was the scene where Margot shows up at her own funeral and doesn’t recognize her husband. From there, I built a story that is, essentially, about getting to know the person we love,” said the director and screenwriter. She added: “Being with the same person for a long time has, in itself, something supernatural about it. So it wasn’t a story about marriage to which I later added a science fiction element. The two layers developed together.”

This is also reflected in the film’s aesthetic choices, such as the decision to shoot on 35 mm. In this regard, Horvát noted: “There’s a central metaphorical theme in the film, but I didn’t want everything to be reduced to a cold, theoretical construct. We wanted it to be a story that felt close and emotionally accessible, and for that we needed cinematography that captured moments of intimacy and pure honesty.”

Two Margots

Margot is a character defined by a before and after: the life she doesn’t remember and the one she must now reinvent. This posed a significant challenge for Davis: “I always treated Margot as two characters—the one who returns and the one who is no longer there.” Lili and I talked a lot about the parameters for each version of Margot. The first is steeped in history and the dynamics of her past relationship, while the second lives in the extreme present and expresses everything without any filter,” said the actress, who has an extensive background in science fiction film and television.

However, it wasn’t that experience that drew the dynamic duo of director and actress together. “I wasn’t looking for an actress familiar with science fiction; I wanted one I admired. For both facets of this character, we needed someone intelligent, like Mackenzie. Plus, she has an almost otherworldly appearance, which reminds me of David Bowie, and that was one of the film’s major inspirations,” said Horvát. For her part, Davis shared: “Making science fiction isn’t something I actively seek out. It’s a coincidence, but the filmmakers who interest me most are exploring the genre a lot, so I always end up coming back to it.”

My Notes on Mars is a film that goes beyond the earthly to help us discover unknown emotions, directing our gaze toward the mysteries of the universe, but also toward those that touch us most closely. “There are questions for which you have no answer, aspects of human life that we will never fully understand,” Horvát concluded. To which Davis added: “It’s painful to never fully know a person, but there’s also a pleasure in accepting that reality and in not possessing the things we love—simply being able to love them in this liminal space.”