Little Scraps of Paper - Isabel Coixet

Little Scraps of Paper is a series of short films about how and where artists develop and keep their ideas.

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I’ve never made a Little Scraps of Paper about a director before.

Have I not wanted to? Been scared that if I did, I would just start making films about other filmmakers? Worried all my friends would ask me to make one about them? Or is there some kind of self-shaming denial going on?

As ever, I have no idea.

But when I heard Isabel Coixet take part of a discussion with author Estrella de Diego recently, I thought she was such an open, inspiring presence that I’d ask her to be part of the series. That she spoke about Agnès Varda so frequently was extra alluring.

Isabel is an incredibly prolific filmmaker. She’s made narrative features (favourites include Un Amor and My Life Without Me) documentaries (I still need to ask her for the link to this) and TV series (like Foodie Love).

Turning up at her office in Barcelona, I was a little nervous. I’m always excited and kind of tingling before a short, but for this one I was a bit more than just that. Would she notice my odd choice of camera placement? Would she think my questions were too obvious?

Well, if she did, she was kind enough not to mention it.

She let me explore the space whilst she got on with some writing. I found her life-sized Varda cut out, books and prints that reflect a curious mind, and mountains of little scraps of paper.

I always ask participants to have their notebooks, or papers at hand - Isabel’s response was “Believe me: you’ll have A TON of little scraps of paper 😂”.

I’ve mentioned before how much I love making these short little glimpses of how someone else works. And spending time with Isabel was extremely insightful, playful and personal. And she teased me when I talked about therapy, which means I really liked her.

One moment that didn’t make the film as it’s a bit off theme is that she operates camera on all of her work. That I found truly inspiring and made me think about the intimacy I feel when shooting my feature docs and if that is transferable to narrative work.

And I love to be behind the camera. I really love it.

I feel like in a way, I transform myself into the hypothetical audience.

I’ll post that clip (and some of the other extras) on our Instagram or in the notes here.

In the meantime, enjoy the new Little Scraps of Paper:

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Notes:

Isabel’s collages - https://www.museothyssen.org/en/exhibitions/isabel-coixet-collages