The Colombian filmmaker Sergio Cabrera returned to the New Latin American Film Festival in Havana again as part of the jury of fiction in which he participated in 2008. Writer, photographer, editor, philosopher and director, he is best known by his films ¨La estrategia del caracol¨ (1994), ¨Golpe de estadio¨ (1998), ¨Perder es cuestión de método¨ (2004). He also comes to the cinema event with his latest film ¨Todos se van¨ (2014), based on the novel by Cuban writer Wendy Guerra, to be presented out of competition.
After four years and eleven different scripts, his film about Nieves, a Cuban eight years old girl who becomes involved in the fight of her parents to obtain her custody, is already ready. About this work and his concerns as a filmmaker and the current environment of Latin American cinema, Cabrera talked with OnCuba.
How do you get to Wendy Guerra’s novel?
I read the book almost by accident because it was given to me on a birthday and loved it, I recommended it to several people including Laura Martel (co-scriptwriter of the film) and two years while being at a festival, talking about cinema and literature with my friend the actor Jorge Perugorría, I asked him why such a beautiful story had not been adapted, and he told me that this film could not be made by a Cuban, that it must be made by a foreigner and that foreigner could be me. I told him no, that I liked making Colombian cinema, but he began to insist and right there he phoned Wendy who was in Havana, we were in Spain. He put me Wendy on the phone and she told me she loved the idea, that she knew my work. My wife heard the conversation and saw me excited about the project, then behind my back she negotiated with the literary agency representing Wendy, bought the rights to the novel and gave them to me. We owe 100% to her who came with the contract and all that, without I had even noticed it. Already with the rights, which are worth a lot of money, I said, let’s work on this, and I started with my friend Laura Martel to work the script, then Ramón Jimenoy joined us. We started to build the project and fall in love with it. In cinema, you should fall in love with a project as you fall for who will your wife be, because it takes much time and requires great sacrifices.
Was there any participation of the author in the adaptation of the book?
No, I had total freedom. She always expressed her willingness to help in whatever, but usually in an adaptation there are two ways; you may work with the author or not, but I think it should not work much if doing it partially, and when we finished the script, I sent it to her, and she wrote me super excited, telling me that she liked it a lot, that she loved it and made me a couple of minor suggestions.
How much of the book is in the film?
We took some licenses. To start, we are only adapting half of the novel, as the book tells the childhood and adolescence of the protagonist.
Are you satisfied with the adaptation?
I am very happy with this adaptation. It will not replace the book; it is as a supplement, because the idea of adapting is not the viewer to see what he read in the book, is another matter. We build a universe around the novel.
From your perspective as fiction jury, what is your opinion on this 36th edition of the Festival?
It is an excellent edition since the films we’ve seen have all been of great interest. Coming to a festival as juror is having the opportunity to see an overview of Latin American cinema. With the added value of being able to comment on the current direction the cinema in the region is taking. Awarding a film is to privilege a viewpoint. I like to recognize the look I think that beats with its own identity away from the aesthetics of Hollywood. I think you can tell any story from a Latin American perspective, without copying or being influenced by foreign models that both contaminate us.
How do you rate the cinema that is now made in Latin America?
Usually I see it with much hope, enthusiasm, and I notice a huge advance in the quality of its works. I think lately it is being a more perfect cinema. New generations of filmmakers are more prepared and have great skill; However, I miss the cinema of a few years ago, which themes interested me more.
And which are your next challenges?
The usual: making movies speaking about ourselves and reflecting our realities. The usual difficulties of financing and distribution to which we must add a new factor: producers have tried to imitate the models or canons of Hollywood cinematography, effective in the short term but also may eventually lose the essence of our cinema, which has its own form of storytelling and facing the circumstances and drama.
What does Havana Festival mean for the Latin American cinema?
The existence of Latin American cinema is closely linked since its inception to this Festival, which was created in a time when Latin American cinema had little chance of being distributed and always functioned as a springboard not only for displaying the films, but to find co-production platforms and eventual distribution in other countries.
It has been a place of encounter and reflection where many great ideas have emerged to develop and diversify cinema. Other factors have contributed to this, but the work of the Festival has been essential.
What do you aspire to convey through your films?
I intend to speak into people’s ear, because I am a very shy person who uses cinema as a speaker to communicate and express what I feel and think. My work is a way of trying to be a better person. Cinema is a way to enlighten myself and very often is the ability to put myself in a position that allows me to see society and display a map of my country. Many times I have been plenty of ideas, but I always express them mutated in pictures and sound.
Which is according to you the greatest commitment of filmmakers today?
I think the filmmakers themselves should not have a strong social commitment. They should make films according to how they think. I prefer movies made by directors who have a political view and express it through their work. The role of filmmakers is more as explorers, reformers; what we do is to look at reality in which we live and reflect it in a fairly accurate way to avoid things that happened in the past and correct the course of thoughts. Personally, I make films as a way of thinking and reflecting.
