San Telmo Tapes & The Other Magic will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival
* How did you get into making films?
I really do not know. Cinema was always part of my life. I became a confirmed cinephile at six years of age.
In my childhood, I thought I would be a writer, I did not understand what a filmmaker's profession was like (now I do not understand it either, but I learned to hide it).
At age 15, I started making short films with a home camera. The actors were my friends from the neighbourhood. And I believe that there a passion was born, an obsession, which continues to this day.
I studied at the Cinematographic Research Center (CIC), and had the opportunity to direct a few short films and won some awards at national and international festivals. Then there was a long period in which I was writing scripts that did not materialise, due to lack of funding or because they were too ambitious for the local industry. Finally, in 2015 I was able to release my first feature film, "Silo", a documentary about the founder of the Humanist Movement. Currently I am working with several projects simultaneously.
* What inspired you to make your movie?
The filmmaking process of this film is quite particular and unconventional, because it is a film that took almost ten years of work with many blows and interruptions.
It all started in the summer of 2008. Raúl Teba is a Spanish actor and brother of life. I lived in San Telmo, a very mythical and tango neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires. And he had already created the "Gato Muñoz", his alter ego, with the aim of composing songs that would shape the reality that surrounds us.
With a camera and a group of friends, we decided to go outside to film many improvisations with Raúl and the neighbours of San Telmo. A fake documentary, without scripts, without a budget, without a technical team, inventing stories. And incredible things happened.
There is a love story. Missencounters. Wrecks of the past. And a chain of unusual events that transform Raúl into a multifaceted and charismatic underground singer.
This is the apocryphal origin of a legend. This is the story of Gato Muñoz and his days in San Telmo.
Later the project stalled. Raúl returned to Spain to continue his musical career and I stayed in Buenos Aires developing other projects.
But everything flows. Between 2014 and 2015, we made a many scenes in Ecuador (Quito and Guayaquil) and Raúl returned to Buenos Aires to record a new album and we took the opportunity to add new improvisations.
Finally, at the beginning of 2018, after a very extensive post-production, we managed to have the final cut of this self-managed and anarchic film.
* How has your style evolved?
It's a complex question because I was working on "Gato Muñoz" while I was working on other feature film projects. I think that all the filming of "Gato Muñoz" was a return to the origins: to recover the creative freedom that I had when I was 15 years old, when I made shorts with my classmates. Without conditioning. Without the vices of the big industry. With total freedom (even with debauchery), without a script, looking for reality on the street, allowing the characters to enter and make their contribution, allowing everything to unfold without certainties, allowing the magic to appear and explode.
* Tell us a strange or funny story when making the movie?
The whole process has been very fun. The experience of the filming in 2009 and 2015 has been very funny, because this film was a children's game that we did with Raúl, allowing us to do what we wanted without any commitment. We also had our fights, strong clashes, the creative process was very intense.
It is important to mention two filmmakers who played a key role and made a great contribution: Naya Kuu, Spanish director, who worked as a cameraman, acted in a scene and helped us add many elements of fiction in the plot. And Federico Sidañez, a brother of life, who fulfilled the roles of actor, co-producer, camera, director of photography and sound engineer, all simultaneously.
If I have to mention the funniest moment, it was probably the scene that we filmed with Raúl and two chefs in a bar. The whole sequence is totally improvised, a very impressive chemistry was generated among all and the result was brilliant, I have a lot of fun when I see those scenes, especially when I remember the moment they were filmed.
* The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
It was a great surprise for me to discover the Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 Manifesto because most of my films fit perfectly with that vision of cinema and the world.
I did not know the Movement or the Manifesto, I had never heard anything about it. And the impact was very big.
"Gato Muñoz" is a movie that was made with super-stars from the street, without a budget and with very little sporadic money, 98% improvised, I had to use my savings to make it. In this case, the executive producer (and not the director) is the absolute protagonist of the film. On one occasion we evaluated the possibility of editing all this material to make a short film but that did not happen because we are not lazy!
Other important characteristics of "Gato Muñoz" is that the actors did not know what they were doing, they were surprised and participated in the film without knowing it. There is no 3D, the scenes were done without preparation.
The errors are beautiful. And this film is full of errors, of anxiety, of impatience, of crudeness, of imperfections.
Beyond the results, "Gato Muñoz" is a film that we made with our hearts and we are proud to participate in the Straight-Jacket because we consider it the ideal space for a film of this style.
* What can we expect from your next film?
Currently, my priority is the distribution of the feature films "The Other Magic" and "Gato Muñoz".
At the same time, I am finishing the post-production of the documentary "El Mensaje" (second part of the trilogy started in "Silo"). A film without a budget that has been filmed in 18 countries in America, Europe and Asia. And we were able to do it thanks to the audiovisual contributions made by people of different nationalities. A collective film about a new spirituality that is being born around the world. Because we are convinced that the world as we know it is coming to an end. The 21st century will be spiritual or it will not be.
I am also working on the postproduction of a fiction feature film, "Captain Menganno", where we tell the true story of a superhero from Buenos Aires. Yes, it is a true story. It is a more industrial film, with a lot of funding and well-known actors, but where we could maintain the independent and guerrilla spirit, especially thanks to the important work of our cinematographer, Kino González, who designed a technique that he called "Jam", with a lot of improvisation, bravery and freedom.
For the future, we are finishing writing the scripts of several films: "Invaders" (based on the spectacular book by Alejandro Agostinelli); "O.V.N.I", about the life of a famous UFO researcher, Fabio Zerpa. We are also finishing writing "The Conclave of Shadows", "Ningunism" and "Kronos".
And we do not rule out the possibility of filming the sequel to "Gato Muñoz", where we will find Gato in his maturity, exploring new paths, always traveling the world, mutating and self-transforming.
THE OTHER MAGIC (2018, ARGENTINA)
*How did you get into making films?
I really do not know. Cinema was always part of my life. I became a confirmed cinephile at six years of age.
In my childhood, I thought I would be a writer, I did not understand what a filmmaker's profession was like (now I do not understand it either, but I learned to hide it).
At age 15, I started making short films with a home camera. The actors were my friends from the neighborhood. And I believe that there a passion was born, an obsession, which continues to this day.
I studied at the Cinematographic Research Center (CIC), and had the opportunity to direct a few short films and won some awards at national and international festivals. Then there was a long period in which I was writing scripts that did not materialize, due to lack of funding or because they were too ambitious for the local industry. Finally, in 2015 I was able to release my first feature film, "Silo", a documentary about the founder of the Humanist Movement. Currently I am working with several projects simultaneously.
* What inspired you to make your movie?
While I was doing the postproduction of "Silo", I had the opportunity to attend the Abadía Áurea, an imposing, very Gothic mansion in the city of Buenos Aires, where ceremonies, rituals, performances, workshops, etc. are held. The first impact was visual: the staging of the esoteric ceremonies. The second impact occurred when I had the opportunity to meet the founder of this venture, José Luis Parada Sabio, and all the people who participate. I found a group of young magicians who are very committed to a path of deep spiritual search. They seek the Light traveling the path of Darkness. And always with the concept of "Magic for all", the Magic is not reduced to certain circles, to an elite, but that it goes out into the streets and goes through the lives of people.
I discovered new realities that I barely suspected. A force that grows and expands in the underground, below the surface. Magic, insurrection, utopia, the spirit of the time. I hope that the spectators can enjoy the experience of discovering a totally new Universe that they hardly suspected and that is there, waiting for us to open our perception, without prejudices and without moral ties.
* How has your style evolved?
When I made short films, I did not find a style that would unify all my projects. From my first film, "Silo", I think that all the obsessions, searches and worries began to find their way. Real stories with characters that challenge the world that surrounds them, that are in an internal search, that resist and never give up.
In the case of "Silo", it is a rather traditional documentary, with interviews and archival material, a journalistic style. "The other Magic" allowed me to travel in other directions, to experiment, to look for visual and technical resources to try to capture in the film everything that is felt and experienced in the ceremonies and rituals of the Golden Abbey. David Lynch has been a great influence (especially the last season of Twin Peaks). It is not only about informing or providing information, but about finding a climate, that the film can shake and interpretate the viewer from the visual. I do not know if we have achieved it but anyway I am very proud of the result.
Now I want to deepen that line. Poetic documentaries, without interviews, trying to get to the heart of the matter without so many explanations.
*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?
They were four long years of intense work, without budget and without resources, working with the enthusiasm of a whole team of professionals who were totally committed to the film. Each day of shooting was a battle we had to fight.
Self-managed cinema is very difficult but it has its advantages. Everyone is working for free, therefore, if they are doing it, it is because they really love it and feel they can contribute something. There is a very strong group spirit that fills you with vitality.
My favorite moment: On the last day of filming, we worked for 16 continuous hours and without rest. At dawn, with the sun peeking, we performed a very important ritual of the film. All very tired and exhausted, but absorbed by the energy of the theme. Now I see this scene and it moved me to tears: we could do it because everyone was working with the heart.
* The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
I did not know the Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 Manifesto. I had never heard of it. And it really was a big surprise because "The Other Magic" (and my other film at the festival, "Gato Muñoz") fits very well within the objectives of the Movement.
I already consider them my cinematographic brothers. I feel very identified with all the principles because they are the same principles that I adhere to since I started making my first short films.
Something very important is that the protagonists of this documentary also adhere and carry out their activities with very similar ideals. The same flags, the same principles, the same road. For that reason I think the Straight-Jacket is a great opportunity to strengthen the ties between all the guerrillas and conspirators (filmmakers or whatever) that we are united in a great network, away from the big corporations, defying the critics and scholars, in a constant search, without concessions.
* What can we expect from your next film?
I'm currently working with several projects simultaneously, so I'm not sure what my next movie is. In the immediate future, my priority is distribute two films ("The Other Magic" and "Gato Muñoz"). At the same time, I am working on the postproduction of two feature films ("El Mensaje" and "Captain Menganno") and developing new feature film scripts (some documentaries, others fiction, all based on real stories).
There is a particular project that is worth highlighting. José Luis Parada Sabio (the protagonist and co-scriptwriter of the documentary "The Other Magic") is writing a fiction feature film entitled "El Conclave de las Sombras" (The Conclave of the Shadows), which takes place at Abadía Áurea and will be performed by magicians who already We met in the documentary.
The same approach but from a purely argumental point of view where Alesteir Crowley, the Knights Templar, Jesus Christ and Baphomet live together (SPOILER ALERT: Jesus becomes Baphomet and vice versa!). Our intention is to film it in 2019, coinciding with an important eclipse that will take place in the province of San Luis, in Argentina. A self-managed film, independent, anarchic, esoteric, dark but luminous at the same time, with elements of horror and the fantastic genre, very much in the style of Grant Morrison and other authors of comics.