By Sandro Mairata
It's another morning of a press screening for a new film by Ani Alva Helfer and the ritual of the endless round of questions from the media is repeated. 'Welcome to Paradise' is the third film by Alva Helfer (Lima, 1988) in less than a year – 'Single, married, widowed, divorced' premiered on April 20, 2023 and 'Isla Bonita' had its national premiere on November 30 of the same year. However, the young and prolific director still feels uncomfortable posing alone in front of the mass of journalists, although she has a personal photographer who provides her with material for her networks. As it is her own tradition, she will surely have some hidden religious image to which she will entrust the success of her new son.
The film features former beauty queen Tati Calmell del Solar as Kiki, a beautiful woman from Lima in love with the dreamy chocolatier Lucas (Andrés Salas). However, Lucas does not seem to be a good match in the eyes of the uptight mother, Sofía (Katia Condos), or the father (Bruno Odar) and he also receives little support from the girlfriend's mischievous best friend, Cata (Patricia Barreto). , who in turn had a thing for the groom's clueless best friend, Mickey (Franco Cabrera). The beach wedding will take place in the Dominican Republic, but first several entanglements will happen that will test the love of the couple.
We spoke with the director.
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-How do you feel about the premiere?
– The premiere is still on March 28, but I am very happy. It is a film that we recorded in May of last year. It was about a month and a half in pre-production, a month of recording and then we spent several months in post-production. The editing was done here, the color in Spain and the music and photography in different places because the photo director is Spanish, Juan Carlos Gómez. So it has had different meeting points during its production.
– The film has several elements from your cinema, but you have not written the script. Did you adjust it? The scriptwriters were not Peruvian.
– Everything is Dominican. In other words, the proposal comes entirely from there, they gave me the script and the proposal to direct it. I made the adjustments as I always do and then a new version of the script was born, obviously with the parameters established by them, but no, I think it's the second film I've directed that I didn't write – because one of them has been ' Half Sisters' (2021) and this–; In 'Isla Bonita' (2023) we were more directors, but these two exclusively, are like commissioned works, so to speak, from the script.
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– You Peruvianized it quite a bit; There are comments about La Gringa Inga and things like that. Did it come naturally or what was the process like?
– I went through a whole process. Let's see, since it was not written with Peruvian words, I knew that this version itself (had to) be Peruvianized and then I gave some nuances to the script and, apart from that, I also trust a lot in working with the actor and in rehearsing. In other words, I consider that I like to generate a bond of trust with the actor in which each one can express themselves, but with the same confidence of telling them, “now, that remains and that doesn't.”
So, in this freedom, since it was evidently also going to Peruvian territory, there were things that had to be done from this place, because they are carried out by Peruvian people. This is how certain winks that are local were born.
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– Something that catches my attention is that in this film you show everything that you would want to do in Peru if you had the technical resources: you have made the most of the drone, you have taken some wide shots that let the story breathe a lot.
– Of course, when it comes to narrating, that is, creating a staging, obviously you have to know what elements you have. And not only in terms of elements, but also in terms of spaces and settings. In this case, I had the opportunity to have a film made abroad and with a different budget, which allowed me to take advantage of certain technical resources. It is every director's dream to have access to resources like the Steadicam every day and that is very expensive. However, it could be done here because the technicians I recorded with also have a lot of experience in Hollywood, the technical level was very high.
So there were all those elements at full disposal in the film. I could change the same day, “I don't want it fixed anymore, I want Steady”, and he had it.
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– In Peru you have to wait in line to film with Steadicam.
– Yes, at least every time I take on a project what I look for is to learn. “Now, what am I going to learn from this project?” So, I had an opportunity to be able to handle a technical aspect that sometimes in Peru is not so feasible and that is what I have also focused on in the staging and both in the photography itself and in the movements of camera.
– 'Single, married, widowed, divorced' (2023) was about loss. 'Isla Bonita' (also from 2023) talked about revaluing the tourist aspect of the Peruvian jungle. What would you say is the essential theme of 'Welcome to Paradise'?
– I think there is a theme of similarities between this passionate side of chocolate that the protagonist may have with love, right? Although I feel that it is a comedy that happens from another side, it is not told, it is not written from a particular theme because, for example, in the case of 'Single, married, widowed, divorced' it is told, it is constructed from a theme.
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Here it is more the journey towards the crazy, the “anti-paradise”, you know? However, there is something that Patricia Barreto's character says that I find a lot of sense in Chato Salas' own profile: one sometimes stops doing things for, I don't know, a relationship, for example, getting married quickly. You don't know but sometimes people get married after 10 years and separate the following year, right? Sometimes you say, “Hey, but how are you going to go to another country at your best?”, for example, in all races, obviously. Or, “why are you changing jobs?” And I feel that this is a risk for life and for feeling what each person feels today, in the now. Now, it is a meal that does not delve into this topic either because it is more about, let's say, experiencing the crazy things that can happen to you on a trip.
– Last question and thanking you for the time given, the choice of Tati Calmell for the lead is surprising, obviously she is a very beautiful girl and contributes to the innocence of the character, but you are known for betting on established actors who solve you quickl
y, how if Did you dare to be a first-timer in the cinema?
– I don't know if I characterize myself by what they just said. I mean, I feel that, for example, in 'Don't call me a spinster!' (2018) Patricia Barreto had a well-known career in theater, but she had not faced a comedy in film. I just did 'Isla Bonita', and although the 3 (leads) have a track record, I have done a casting of 7,000 people to find the other part of the cast. And in 'Single, married…', if you see the response I had when I said why I had chosen those four (Milene Vásquez, Katia Condos, Gianella Neyra and Patricia Portocarrero), there is also a part of me , of admiration towards the actresses. At some point in my life I have looked for it and I achieved it, directing those four who have a lot of skill to face the comedy that I was telling, they result in a shot with a lot of rhythm and I feel that it was a good choice.
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Now, different things move me to choose a cast. In Tati's case I loved the freshness. I feel like the character needed to have that natural freshness. And what I have loved about her is that she is not afraid. In other words, she is very fresh when it comes to the proposal, she faces the scene with the same determination as perhaps someone who has had more experience. And it gives me a lot of emotion to see it.
– Brings an element of natural innocence that cannot be faked.
– It's natural. It's cool. Anyway.
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