May Feelings - interview with director

May Feelings II - a very original film about the Rosary which was posted on Youtube earlier this month, has already attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. The video is the brainchild of Santiago Requejo (Belomasan) a 23-year-old Spanish filmmaker.
Last year he made May Feelings I, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ17YuROPXY&feature=related which was also very successful around the world.

Santiago has sent us the following interview about the May Feelings projects:

1. How did you come up with the idea of making the video of "May Feelings I"?

The idea came to us spontaneously, one night while I was listening to music with some friends at our residence (C.M Moncloa) One of these friends who loves Elvis Presley was playing his songs to us.

All of a sudden, a song that we had never heard before started to play. It was called: “The Miracle of the Rosary” . We were all amazed for two reasons, first because it was the first time we heard the song and secondly because Elvis was Protestant therefore there was no sense in making a song about the Virgin Mary.

We started talking about this and finally realised if Elvis who was a Protestant had honored Our Lady we had to do something too. Suddenly we realized that in four days it was going to be May. We knew how much Our Lady wants us to pray the Rosary. As the Rosary is made of 50 Hail Maries, we made a video giving 50 reasons to pray it expressed by 50 different people.

2. How did you manage to carry it out?

The minute we had a clear idea about the video we got in touch with some friends and told them what we wanted to do. At first it seemed nobody had time to take part but when we told them what it was (to encourage praying the Rosary among young people) they left what they were doing and joined us. I never imagined it would be possible to record 50 persons in a day and a half. Once it was recorded we edited it and send it to YouTube on April 30 so that May the 1st anybody in the world could watch it.

3.What has happened since?

We never expected such a huge response. The first day we posted it on YouTube it became the most seen video in Spain. As tine passed more and more media began talking about it and adding it to their internet portals. The Catholic agency of news H2O News wrote to us to translate it into eight languages, among them Arabic. While the video continued receiving visits, around 300.000 in May, we received hundreds of emails from different countries, thanking us for the initiative, asking us to pray for them or just sharing their personal experiences, such as the way the video had helped them, by people who had never prayed the Rosary or people who were doing a pilgrimage for the first time.

In addition we received more and more commentaries on YouTube everyday and it became a portal to exchange religious points of views. Finally, the catholic chain EWTN of The United States requested if they could emit the video in two of their programs: Live on The rock, and Our live Faith where one of us did a live telephonic interview.

4. What drove you to make a sequel video this year?

This year, we decided to redo the video because we firmly think that our society needs these types of messages. Last year the video was probably much more general, it was thought for everyone to see. This year the video has been directed to the Catholic sector. We wanted to do an encouraging video for those who have or have had spiritual restlessness at some point of their life but for unknown reason they have been forced to follow a different model by a society that does not welcome these practices. But not only that, society condemns them for their religious beliefs considering them old fashioned and useless. Our aim is to tell people, that they are not alone, to show them that many people have the same beliefs and that nobody should call them weird because of it.

5. Nowadays, what do you think is the importance of praying the Rosary? Is it important for young people?

First of all I think that it’s too daring to try and quantify the importance of the Rosary. In my opinion it’s impossible to calculate of the Rosary, its value is countless. The Virgin once told us in Fatima to pray the Rosary, what importance shall we attach to this? It probably depends of the value each one gives it but certainly the fact that the Mother of God tells us to pay the Rosary should be enough. As for young people I think its something essential, in this world where the youth seems to live a life besides God, in a world submerged in a moral crisis, in a relativism dictatorship.

Now more than ever we need a new vision of the world, with God in the centre of our lives. Plus, as the Saints would say, there is no better way to get to Jesus than through Mary; if this is true doesn’t the Rosary gain right away more value?

Pope John Paul II said “Don’t be afraid” and even if he said it to everybody I think he specially directed it to the youth because as he once said “The future starts today, not tomorrow” and we are building the future right now. How can we live without being afraid? I don’t know but maybe praying the Holy Rosary can help. If we started to be more conscience of his reality I’m sure society could change.

6. Do you believe young people should be involved in the society which surrounds us? Up to what point? How can they contribute?

The future of our society depends on what we do in the present. In this sense, it’s the young people who we have to take part and involve ourselves in the world to make it a better place. Something characteristic of the youth is its romanticism, its revolutionary worries and inconformity with society. This idea is not bad but at all if it’s done with the objective of making the world a better place. This is why we have to make the most of our young years and take the initiative to Christianize our society. How can we young people contribute? With our happiness, modernity, illusion, work…

7. What is special about this month? How should we live it?

This is the month which the Catholic Church dedicates to Mary, therefore it is a very special month. How should we live this month? I’m not the one to answer this question but since you ask I suppose that having nice gestures with the Virgin and being fond of her.

8.Have you done any other projects with Belomasán Films?

Though Belomasán’s most famous video is “ May Feelings I & II”, Belomasáns is a growing producer created by young people who share the same artistic interests and are willing to change the world through the production of cinematographic full-length films that transmit values. Up to this moment it’s been an amateur project, with no costs but in a few months we are looking forwards to go professional. Among our videos you can watch thirteen shorts, a documentary and a sketch for a spot of television.

9. Do you have other videos in mind?

It’s always good to have a project in mind, however there are financial needs that need to be covered and this is probably our biggest difficultly. Nevertheless we trust very much in our team and our new ideas, so we are confidence that we can do it.