José Miguel Pascual Labrador |
Madrid (EFE).- The actor and director Juan Diego Botto believes that the potential of the Ibero-American audiovisual industry is “enormous”, but that to reach its maximum it is important “not to measure success based on what works in Hollywood”, but to focus on the repercussion in the countries of the region or on the amount of exchanges between the different cinematographies.
In an interview with the EFE Agency at the Casa de América in Madrid, Botto assured today that a comprehensive Ibero-American commitment must be reinforced -in which both professionals, distributors, politicians and society participate-, to give visibility to the content that is carried out in this industry.
The Spanish-Argentine actor and director is grateful for the establishment of platforms that support “the singular existence” of the Ibero-American audiovisual, whose twinning bases are established through language and historical and cultural ties, on the occasion of the tenth edition of the Platino Film Awards Ibero-American, which will be held on April 22 in Madrid.
“It is important that we do not have to triangulate through the United States to assess the success of a production or a series and that it does not have to consolidate there to reach Spain; I think it is important to strengthen this direct trip and we can have access to the cinema of Mexico, Ecuador, Chile or Argentina and that our productions travel there ”, he insists.
The actor Juan Diego Botto during the interview with EFE. EFE/Davis Fernandez
Ibero-American audiovisual talent
Within this analysis, he considers that the strength goes through “the weight of good stories”, since in comparison with India or Hollywood, the necessary economic resources are not available to make the special effects of a futuristic story, “but they do to tell good stories with good characters.”
At the end of last year, Botto released his first feature film as a director, ‘En los margínes’, a film that narrates the situation of evictions in Spain, where more than 400,000 have taken place in the last decade.
“There is a lot of daily life”, he comments on his inspiration for this project, and affirms that one of the main reflections is the feeling of not looking the other way: “the solution to problems involves all of us being involved, not putting ourselves in profile”.
Regarding his debut as a director, he assures that it was a “very beautiful” process, which he enjoyed from the first phases of the script to the possibility of directing professionals such as Penélope Cruz or Luis Tosar.
“A priori I thought I would suffer more, but it was a very pleasant process. In addition, it was very well received and has revived a public debate that we should have. The housing debate is evident that we cannot forget it ”, he explains.
future projects
Juan Diego Botto is immersed in the recording of the second season of the Spanish series ‘Everyone lies’, in the writing of a possible fiction series and in September the filming of a film will begin.
In addition, there is a story that “is on his mind”, but he acknowledges that “it is only a seed” that he would like to see it be his second feature film behind the scenes.
Regarding this project, he anticipates that it has to do with its origins and with Argentina and that, “if everything goes well, although it depends on many factors”, the first version of the script could be ready in 2023 and filming will begin in two and a half years. .
Juan Diego Botto (Buenos Aires, 1975), with an extensive professional career, is the 2021 National Theater Award in Spain and has been nominated several times for the Goya, the Spanish film awards.