Film family tree: Una Semana Solos

Orphans for a week ... scene from Una Semana Solos (A Week Alone) Photograph: PR

If my film had a mother ... it would be 400 Blows. I could probably pick any of the films that Truffaut made with children, but this is the most significant and personal. I find his work with children utterly inspiring. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

If my film had a father ... Elephant. I love the way in which Gus Van Sant observes reality. He has a great eye for the world and a poetic touch that makes the horror he is exploring seem all the more powerful. Photograph: Kobal

If my film had a wicked stepmother ... High School Musical 3: Senior Year. I don't like this film at all. Yes, it is a movie about adolescence, which means it has some nominal similarities with my own film. But the way it treats childhood is so artificial and wrong. I'm trying to do the exact opposite. Photograph: PR

If my film had a competitive sibling ... La Zona by Rodrigu Pla. Every journalist I have spoken to seems to be comparing my film to this one. Both are from Latin America; both are set in a similar gated community. But Una Semana Solos is very different. La Zona is a thriller, and my film has a very different tone. It doesn't annoy me, but it is interesting. Photograph: PR

If my film had an embarrassing uncle ... Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu. I think there are parallels between Una Semana Solos and Babel. They are both films that explore the issue of social polarisation. But I find Babel so crude and self-important. I was determined to depict the situation in a more subtle, complex way. Hopefully my film shows different sides of the same issue. Photograph: PR

If my film had a third cousin by marriage ... Zero de Conduite by Jean Vigo. This is an obscure connection but it is very important for me. Jean Vigo's masterpiece was one of the first films to show the child's world as it really is - a place of tenderness and great cruelty. It is still a very revolutionary and significant piece of work. Photograph: Kobal

If my film would spawn children they would hopefully look like ... Nobody Knows by Hirokazu Koreeda. Koreeda is best known for a film called After Life, but this one played at Cannes a few years ago. Like mine, it's about a group of kids left alone in a house, although these kids are more poor than the ones in my film. It's a brilliantly sensitive film. I love the way Koreeda combines moments of high drama with the happy moments of everyday life. Photograph: Kobal