By: Sandro Mairata
The film critic and professor Ricardo Bedoya returns to the front of the Cinema Week of the University of Lima from November 11 to 19. This year the poster is spectacular. There is ‘Close your eyes’ by the Spanish maestro Víctor Erice, who could not compete in Cannes this year despite the scandal involved. Also long-awaited works such as ‘The Goldman Case‘ by Cedric Khan (France), ‘Inside the Shell of the Yellow Cocoon’ by Pham Thien An (Vietnam), ‘The Chimera’ by Alice Rohrwacher (Italy) or the last unfinished film by the great Jean-Luc Godard. Likewise, there will be a sample of Peruvian short films, one of Aldo Salvini’s legendary shorts restored and a selection of top-level Peruvian cinema from this year, with titles such as ‘Yana-wara’, ‘Diógenes’, ‘Historias de shipibos’, ‘Wändari’ and premieres such as ‘Arde Lima’, by Alberto Castro.
The occasion is a good excuse to talk about various events in this year’s cinema, which is now coming to a close.
How did you get ‘Close your eyes’, by Víctor Erice? It is a film that was difficult to bring.
How to get the movies, always trying to negotiate them in advance with the sales agents. It is a long and arduous process, sometimes not. But hey, there it is. There comes a time when you agree, but it is a complex process, sometimes you have to see if there are any restrictions or special requests to be able to access these movies. Generally, the first thing when you come into contact with them and you tell them “I want such a film” they are going to tell you “look, wait a little, we are seeing what the launch strategy is going to be”, because they are very new films.
Have you been able to review it yet?
My son Rodrigo and I see everything because it is the only way to choose. We are actually watching movies since it ends in previous year. In some cases the agents send you the links. In other cases, you ask for the movie to review and you choose it there.
Sorry I stayed with the topic of ‘Close Your Eyes’, but Erice said that he sent it to Cannes and Cannes said that he had not received it and there was a tremendous mess because those who saw it said that that was the film that should have won the festival , not ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, by Justine Triet. Or was it a bluff?
Obviously not. Compared to ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, my choice would be very clear, but I understand, then, that each festival and each exhibition has its own studies, sections.
“Close your eyes”, by the Spanish master Víctor Erice and which had a controversy in Cannes, is the highlight of the exhibition. Photo: Haut et Court
What are you looking for to define the Cinema Week billboard?
Let’s see, when we talk about film week with Rodrigo, first of all we want them to be good films, right? Attractive movies. Secondly, they must be films that are very diverse from each other, that they have, let’s say, diverse stylistic and thematic profiles. And that is somehow linked to the plurality, to the diversity of global film production, a Vietnamese, Albanian, French, Italian film.
Also a certain balance between the old and the new, between seeing established names who have had a journey or whose latest films have a certain relevance, in particular, no. And let it be the one that there is and that there are new people, debutants or filmmakers who have few films. Finding that kind of balance. No quotas of any kind, right? Not quotas of these linked to reasons of identity, no. But there are balances of films that suddenly have a medium profile or films that have not been talked about much, but that seem valuable to us and that we can exhibit them. So there is a look, let’s say selection, but basically linked to quality.
What are your fixes?
Difficult, because all international programming has a special interest. Of course, the Erice is perhaps the highlight. ‘A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes’ is a particularly interesting film; an Albanian film about twins who have to face unexpected events. ‘The Goldman case’ is really interesting because, of course, from the trial of this former leftist militant in which he is accused of armed robbery, little by little the world of the loss of the revolutionary illusions of the 60s. Then ‘The Plow’ by Louis Garrel, who is one of the greatest current filmmakers. Here he makes a study about the family dedicated to art and persistence, the filming of artistic heritage. ‘Elegant Dance’ was much talked about at the Sundance Festival and it features Lily Gladstone, the protagonist of “The Moon Killers”, which was filmed inside a reservation.
‘Inside the shell of the yellow cocoon’ is a discovery. A film that takes on dreamlike overtones and is the debut of a director (Pham Thien An) who must be followed. ‘Pacifiction’ by Laurent Serra was highly celebrated at Cannes last year; the last by Godard, or ‘The Chimera’ by Alice Rohrwacher.
The Peruvian film exhibition particularly catches my attention, which has all those titles that have been so popular and that there is nowhere else to see. Given the current context, did you think in any way that this selection was a form of response to the Tudela Bill?
No no no. Look, in the vision there cannot be this circumstantial question, let’s say of seeking a controversy with the films themselves. In the case they were the Peruvian ones, both short and long stories, there is a committee made up of four people that watches all the films (164 shorts this year) and I don’t know how many long stories they represented, I think 30. It’s not about looking for controversies.
Just as there is Martin Scorsese hitting Marvel, here we have Ricardo Bedoya hitting Tondero.
No no. That is a wrong perception. I don’t hit Tondero with a stick. I think it is a company, let’s see, that, of course, has its own way of production, because it has a way of conceiving film production in a certain way. I think he has achieved notable successes, right? And I think that’s good in building an audience; They will not be the films that I like in some cases, but it is important that people go to the cinema and know how to recognize Peruvian cinema, right? The cinema that is made in Peru.
“I don’t hit Tondero with a stick. It is important that people go to the cinema and know how to recognize Peruvian cinema
But also, and it is something that I have said several times, we must not forget that Tondero is the producer of Joanna Lombardi’s films, she is the producer of ‘Magallanes’, she is the producer of ‘The Disappeared Elephant’ (2014, by Javier Sources, author’s note). That is to say, she has produced films—not many—but she has produced films that have a very different profile and so we do not have to enter into that package that denies the form of a company. It’s true that Tondero hasn’t made any of those films in a while and that he has made much more accommodating films.
Impossible not to wonder about the end of your program ‘The pleasure of the eyes’ on TV Perú. You left driving after 22 years and then with a new driver, a few months later the program was closed. What is your balance on this matter?
It makes me very sad, it makes me very sad that a program that is dedicated to cinema has been closed, that had a different perspective on cinema on public television, in this case, right?, but I don’t know the channel’s reasons. The truth is that since I left the channel I no longer had contact, but I regret it, it seems unfortunate to me. But as I say, I can’t give you more reasons because I don’t know them.
Did it hurt you more to leave the program or to have it closed?
Both things hurt me. Let’s see, I had already thought about my separation and it is evident that one feels a void when one is linked to something for so many years, but, on the other hand, I was very clearly aware that I had to leave, one cannot last forever and that Obviously it has to be refreshed and the channel’s decision was that, to continue with the program. And then, there was a process in which they did a casting, (Juan Carlos) Fangacio was chosen and after a few months the program was closed. It makes me very sad. I don’t know, I don’t know why. But it surprised me, yes it surprised me.
And yet, that did not motivate you to stay away from the cameras because now you have a new space called ‘Evil Eye’ on networks.
Let’s see, we had talked about ‘Evil Eye’ a long time ago with (my producer) Samantha Chau, which was a different way of talking about cinema…
Couldn’t you do the same in ‘The Pleasure of the Eyes’?
Yes and no. In some way you are going to talk about cinema, but what about ‘Evil Eye’? Let’s see, what’s the difference? ‘The pleasure of the eyes’ ties you to the present, doesn’t it? In a weekly program you have to talk about the movies that everyone watches. On the other hand, ‘Evil Eye’ does not. It gives you the freedom to talk about the movies you like. This is not a public service where you necessarily have to talk about everything. For now it has coincided with films that are there, we have a month and a half. But the idea is to then make things about horror movies or other genres that are interesting for people to track.
Does this come out of your money?
Well, I record it with my cell phone, there is no major investment. Samantha likes to edit and she does it very well and very quickly and she likes to do it. For the moment this is our agreement.
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