Considered his film O Sul (1983) an unfinished work. Producer Elías Querejeta suspended the project in the middle of the shooting due financial reasons. According to Erice, Querejeta promised him that he would be allowed to shoot the rest of the screenplay if he agreed to edit the filmed material. However, after the film premiered in competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, Querejeta never fulfilled his promise.
Everyone has the capacity to create and recreate within them. And a film doesn't exist unless it is seen - if there are no eyes to look at the images, the images don't exist. When I've finished a film, it's no longer mine - it belongs to the people. I'm nothing more than an intermediary in the process.
