By Maribel Arenas Vadillo
Bogotá (EFE) , after”, of which he is the protagonist.
However, he assures in an interview with EFE that although “there is a long way to go” for the equality of Latino actors, the sector “has opened up a lot.”
For the Colombian actress who played the heroine in “Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019) together with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the opening of this industry that reserved for Latin American artists the role of prostitutes, waitresses or immigrants who cross the border, is due to to the “imperative need to reflect the reality of the country’s population.”
“It is true that, somehow, there is a category of ‘Latino’. It’s like I’m not an ‘actress’ but a ‘Latino actress’”, said the artist in relation to the categorization that responds to the name of “people of color” (people of color).
In this sense, and although he acknowledges that his roots are “too deep-rooted”, Reyes admits that he worked hard to “reduce” his accent in order to have the same “malleability” in English that he has in Spanish when it comes to emulating in their papers the linguistic diversity that exists within their country.
Alone on a post-apocalyptic journey
Certain that “science fiction is more and more science and less fiction”, the protagonist and unique character of this post-apocalyptic feature film sees as the starting point of the film the “wrong relationship” of human beings with the planet and the species that they inhabit it.
“The film leaves a message of alarm and caution. We have to take urgent measures so that these pandemics and realities do not repeat themselves ”, Reyes confessed to EFE after defining the feature film directed by the Salvadoran-Canadian Alfonso Quijada as his “greatest professional challenge”.
This is how in this production completely shot in Colombia during the months of gestation of Isla, daughter of Reyes, and within the framework of the covid-19 emergency, the artist walks among abandoned buildings, dusty cars and deserted streets while her character she wonders why she is the only one to survive a global pandemic that wiped out the human species.
In the midst of a symphony of emotions, voices and thoughts such as “maybe I’m dead and this is my purgatory” or “I’m dust on the road”, this nameless woman embraces resilience and regains hope after knowing what she is waiting for. a son.
Challenges of Colombian cinema
In addition to acting on the big screen, at the end of last year the actress became the youngest president of the Colombian Film Academy, a position with which she hopes to strengthen this “nascent” industry that, despite being “seeking its identity”, has “many opportunities” to become a “first level sector in the world”.
“I feel responsible for continuing to open paths in a world in which we are rewriting all the rules,” he acknowledges, referring to the “breaking point” that “the pandemic, the networks, the internet, and the platforms” have marked on the way to produce, generate and consume content.
Regarding the situation of Colombian cinema, Reyes considers that it is currently divided mainly into two segments: comedy and independent cinema that, although it manages to reach the big festivals, “has very poor attendance at theaters.”
In this sense, he insists on the importance of beginning to explore other narratives linked to science fiction, horror or genre in Latin American cinema.
“I feel that we can also start to move away from having the responsibility of talking about our wars, miseries and pains”, assures the actress after qualifying that these stories that have traditionally shaped the “autochthonous identity” of Latin American titles, are also “valid and necessary”.