By Monica Rubalcava |
Los Angeles (USA) (EFE).- The Oscar nomination of the film “Argentina, 1985”, by Santiago Mitre, is proof that “many Latin American Spanish-speaking contents are highly valued in the world”, considers its protagonist, Ricardo Darín, in an interview with EFE.
“We have to feel proud of our cinema, of making efforts and of not feeling diminished by a budget issue because the most important thing of all is to have a good story to tell”, says the actor from “Wild Tales”.
Miter and Darín have spent a year traveling the world promoting the legal drama film that follows the successful trial against the military of the violent Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), marked by massive violations of the human rights of the civilian population.
Representation of Latin America in the great prizes
So far this year, Argentines have already paraded as winners of awards such as the Golden Globes and the Goyas, and now they aspire for “Argentina, 1985” to be crowned the best foreign film at the Oscars on March 12.
But although they have enjoyed these celebrations, both agree that the most beautiful moment they have experienced on the film route so far was the premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
“That moment remains unforgettable to me, we were showing the film for the first time all together in a room full of people and the way in which the room reacted to the film and how they applauded us afterwards was very moving”, recalls Miter.
Darín agrees: “It didn’t look like anything,” says the actor, who was surprised to realize that the subject portrayed in the film was not as local as he thought.
“One of the uncertainties we had was how they were going to receive it, initially in Argentina and then in other countries. That was the confirmation that the story breaks borders and connects with the public from all over the world”, exposes the protagonist of “Nueve reinas”.
a cry of joy
At the end of that projection, both were so deeply moved that the actor remembers that they could not stop crying: “We looked at each other and our crying fed back.”
That was just one of the many emotional moments that marked the project, which, among other things, was the first Argentine film to be recorded during the hardest moments of the pandemic.
“A very long investigation was carried out where we learned a lot and it was devastating in many ways (…). Talking about this trial is talking about an open wound that Argentine society has”, says Mitre.
The production revived the history of justice without precedent in Latin America in the same places where the trial took place, won by Julio Strassera and the young assistant prosecutor Luis Moreno Campo.
“It really overwhelmed you to be there and to think that a few years ago that would have been lived in that same place with so much emotion, hope, expectations, suffering, pain and struggle of so many people, all of that came together in our soul,” he says. Darin.
Ask nothing of Hollywood
Darín attended the Oscars for the first time thanks to “El secreto de sus ojos”, by Juan José Campanella, who in 2010 won the title that Miter’s film is fighting today.
Some time later, the actor gave statements that he considered “unfairly” positioned as an “anti-Academy (Hollywood)” actor, since in a televised interview he confessed that he did not want to accept a role in a high-budget American film.
“It was nothing personal with the Academy or with the cinema itself. We all believe and imagine that the Mecca and the summit of everything is there (in Hollywood), no matter what they offer you and not for me, the most important thing is always the story in question, what is the script and who are the partners ” , asserts.
Miter shares the opinion with Darín and celebrates the window in which the platforms for Latin American film productions have become.
“We are at a time when it is possible to imagine large-scale ambitious projects in Spanish (…). We have to work to maintain and defend the cinema spoken in our language with the greatest possible force ”, he explains.
Darín also confesses that he is proud of the director and says he feels emotion every time that renowned “artists from all over the world” come to congratulate him.
Although Miter still does not know very well what everything that he has experienced this year means for his career, he is very clear about something: “All the things that have happened to me with the cinema are good and now they are getting better.”
