“Conducta is a simple story that tells of a boy with a lot of problems, and the importance for him of his veteran sixth grade teacher.” So simple is the synopsis that in a couple of lines the director Ernesto Daranas sums up his second feature film, produced by the Ministry of Culture, the ICAIC and RTV Commercial that this month will be released nationwide.
“Conducta is based on our reality, he adds, in the aftermath of a quarter century of special period and the impact of a set of measures has failed to impact on the real lives of our poorest sectors. How will all mark the children of those families? How important is the teacher to those guys? “.
With these concerns, Daranas gathered a group of students from the Faculty of Arts and Media Communication at the Higher Institute of Art, and began with their collaboration a research process that allowed him to see firsthand the reality of children and parents living in the poorest districts, visit schools and meet with teachers.
Of these revelatory experiences a screenplay was written by the director that tells the story of Chala, an eleven- year-old living alone with his addicted mother and trains fighting dogs to have a financial support. Carmela is his sixth-grade teacher and the boy has great respect for her, but when Carmela gets ill and is forced to leave the classroom for several months, a new teacher, unable to handle the character of Chala, sent him to a school of conduct. This action will trigger a series of conflicts whose vortex is the relationship between Carmela and Chala.
For the director of Los Dioses Rotos (2009), his debut with a feature film that won the Audience Award and the Cuban Association of Film Critics on the thirtieth International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, the biggest challenge Conducta raised him apart from the complexity and responsibility of the subject, was working with children.
“The greatest truth that can transmit the movie comes from children; none of them had acted before and come from the same areas of reality that the film addresses. We worked with every boy looking not to lose their freshness and could address the complexity of a shooting in which there was very difficult sequences. It was a hard work, but very rewarding. “
Aside from getting the child cast, headed by Armando Valdes and Amaly Junco , to be convincing , the director must find the right actress to play the other role on which rested the weight of the film : the teacher Carmela , whose character reference a teacher of the same name real and whose wealth of life experience particularly nurtured the script. After repeated tests and long hours of rehearsals, the choice fell on Alina Rodriguez, an actress of proven talent and ductility in uncountable roles she has played both in film and theater and television.
“I was interested in this character since I read the script, Alina says – because, as I always say, the experiences are very important for an actor. I started the teaching career, and although I didn’t conclude it, I learned in it what was instrumental in my formation as a person and then as an actress. That’s why my meeting with the real Carmela as part of the table work was like I was talking to a colleague in career and generation, we communicated very well, and her help was essential to the building of the character. “
The film’s Carmela, however, could not be limited exclusively to the original one, but the director and the star had made clear that should transcend: “My character comes to represent many educators, as Carmela, who are making their best day after day to educate the new generations, regain what is lost inside and outside the classroom, the actress says. In this sense, it is vital for an actor that the director knows exactly what he wants to express, and guide us in that direction. For his professionalism, sensitivity and respect for actors, a director like Daranas motivates you to give your best, no matter what the effort. Let me tell you in Conducta there were scenes of 50 shots, and shooting days fourteen hours long, if days proved exhausting for professional actors, you can imagine what that meant for kids, but we were all committed to keep pace and take the rest in this work. “
Conducta also features performances by Silvia Aguila, Miriel Cejas, Armando Miguel Gómez, Yuliet Cruz, Héctor Noas, Idalmis García, Aramis Delgado and Thomas Cao, among others, photography is by Alexander Pérez, and Pedro Suárez did the editing and direction of Art by Erick Grass. Osmani Olivares designed the sound and Vladimir Cuenca, costumes, while the music was composed by Juan Antonio Leyva and Magda Rosa Galban. The casting director was Mariela Lopez and production, Esther Masero.
