Monica Rubalcava |
Los Angeles (USA) (EFE).- The Oscar nomination as a producer for Alfonso Cuarón for the short film “Le Pupille” reaffirms his interest in continuing to promote the talent of other filmmakers. “I am a fan and a movie buff of the directors I work with,” he told EFE in an interview.
“As a director, the best way I work is when I have total freedom, so as a producer what I try is that (the filmmakers) are free to create. It would be a selfish act to dictate how they have to do things”, mentioned the author of “Gravity” (2013).
Cuarón is nominated in the category for best short film for having served as “a tool” for the Italian director Alice Rohrwacher to create a 40-minute Christmas movie, which can currently be seen on the Disney+ platform.
“Le Pupille” and its magic
The tape portrays the story of a group of girls who live in an orphanage run by nuns and the preparations they carry out for the celebration of Christmas.
Children’s games, dancing and the desire of the little ones to be able to taste a beautiful red cake are mixed with guilt and the prohibitions of their tutors.
However, the most misfit of girls will be innocent and brave enough to defy the rules that are imposed on them.
“The film has a purity to its characters and leaves a sense of faith in the human spirit within all of today’s complexities. Alice has a very particular look, a very feminine vision, but also a very humanist one,” the producer described.
Reflecting on the subject of the Italian short film makes him think of the parallels that the story has with the film “Pinocchio”, by his dear friend Guillermo del Toro, who in this edition is also nominated for the Hollywood Academy Awards in the category of best animated film.
“Somehow in both there is a question of celebrating disobedience and skepticism with power. I think that this questioning of the powers in our lives is very important”, acknowledged the director.
Cuarón, celebrates female filmmakers
Cuarón considered that his nomination is not exactly an achievement for Mexico -although he acknowledges that his vision “as a Mexican” is related to the projects he enjoys doing and promoting- and believes that there are other events that have a greater impact on the film industry of his time. country and that all the credit for “Le Pupille” actually belongs to Rohrwacher.
“There are things that do have to be celebrated immensely, such as the directors who won at the Berlin Film Festival (Tatiana Huezo, Lila Avilés and Sofía Auza), those are the things that really generate progress for Mexican films,” he commented.
But he believes that the nomination for “Le Pupille” does generate progress for the development of international cinema, since as it is an Italian story spoken in its language of origin, intercultural cinema is promoted and promoted.
“Rome” the beginning of an era of transformation
From his perspective, another example of this was “Roma”, the film spoken entirely in Spanish with which Cuarón portrayed his childhood and his country.
In 2019, the film starring Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira won the awards for best film, best director and best foreign language film at the Oscars.
A year later, the South Korean film “Parasite” also managed to position itself as the best film of the year, and that is for the director a sample of the changes that Hollywood is facing in terms of diversity.
“We are living in a time of transition, the interesting thing about the platforms is that they have brought films from different cultures closer together and have accustomed the public to seeing works from other countries”, he assured.
Lastly, the director confesses that the only expectation he has for Sunday March 12, when the Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (USA), is “to celebrate with Alice, Guillermo and other friends ” with whom he will meet that night.
