Renate Costa (Asunción, 1981) si laurea in Regia degli audiovisivi e Produzione presso il Paraguayan Professional Institute; in seguito studia Regia documentaria a Cuba. Dal 2006 vive a Barcellona, dove ottiene il Master in Documentario di Creazione presso l’Università Pompeu Fabra. Lavora in Paraguay come produttrice e nel 2007 debutta come regista con il cortometraggio documentario Che yvotymi – Mi pequeña flor. Renate Costa (Asunción, 1981) graduated in Audiovisual Direction and Production from the Paraguayan Professional Institute, then she studied Documentary Filmmaking in Cuba. Since 2006 she has lived in Barcelona, where she obtained her Master in Creative Documentary from Pompeu Fabra University. She worked in Paraguay as producer and in 2007 she debuted as a director with the short documentary film Che yvotymi – Mi pequeña flor.
Filmografia: 2010: Cuchillo de palo
2007: Che yvotymi – Mi pequeña flor 2005-6: Historias del camino (TV)
“I think my parents made a mistaken when they told me: ‘Don’t go near your Uncle’s house.’ From then on, everything he did was of interest to me. Rodolfo was different. He wore flashy clothing, listened to Elvis, danced at every birthday. The one strange thing was that the seat next to him remained empty. Of all my father’s siblings, he was the only one who didn’t want to become a craftsman, like my grandfather. In 1980s Paraguay, under Stroessner’s dictatorship, he wanted to be a dancer.” (Renate Costa)
Renate Coste affectionately recalls his uncle, a man arrested with other dissidents (in an operation now known as «the list of 108»), tortured, released to widespread indifference, who later died of «sadness», as those who knew him said. Coste’s investigation is both personal and political, in a country that has yet to come to terms with its past. Using remembrances, archival footage, testimonials of fellow resistance mem- bers and relatives, Cuchillo de palo paints an extremely rich picture of an oppressive period yet to be full recognized in Paraguay itself. Often recalled and rarely shown, appearing in just a few passing shots, Rodolfo is still a revealing figure. If in life he was deemed an irritant, in memory – brought to light thanks to Renate Costa’s persistence – he is exalted in contrast to his country’s history and his family’s mentality. Almost im- perceptibly, the director turns his gaze on his father, with whom he has an intense «tête-à-tête», capturing at once a sense of revolt as well as an attempt to understand one another. Beyond chronicle and autobiography emerges the portrait of a nation weighed down by a discriminatory, macho mentality, struggling to accept its fellow man in all his variety. In his debut feature, Renate Costa makes a politically courageous film built around an elaborate and winning narrative. (c.c.)
RENATE COSTA
cUchillo De palo
SERGE LALOU
et Si
Francia, 2010, video, 100’, col. Regia, soggetto: Serge Lalou Fotografia: Katell Dijan, Sabine Lancelin
Montaggio: Catherine Gouze Suono: Claire-Anne Largeron Musica: Abed Azrié
Interpreti: Bruno Putzulu, Jean- Claude Lalou, Sabrina Perret, avec la participation de Rachida Brakni Produzione: Zadig Productions, Films d’Ici
Contatti: Zadig Productions – Hassiba Belhadj Tel: +33 1 58308010 Email: hassiba.belhadj@zadigproductions.com PRIMA MONDIALE WORLD PREMIERE
“Non ci possiamo lamentare della vita. Essa non trattiene nessuno” si ripete incessantemente un uomo, or- mai settantenne. La sua storia inizia una notte, quando abbandona la propria casa e decide di inventarsi una nuova esistenza. Da questo spunto di finzione nasce l’azione del film, che documenta il lavoro degli attori, impegnati in un’altalenante ambiguità fra essere umano e personaggio. Il loro tragitto prende forma a partire dalla periferia parigina, da una serie di incontri in cui, seduti intorno a un tavolo, essi provano le scene alla ricerca della chiave per entrare nei loro ruoli. Lo sviluppo produttivo del film in costruzione insieme alla me- moria personale, che gli attori apportano alla struttura narrativa, spingono cast e troupe in Nord Africa. Qui la ricerca si trasformerà in un viaggio all’origine del mondo del protagonista: un villaggio algerino da dove incominciò la diaspora della famiglia. Con Et si Serge Lalou completa una trilogia della trasmissione e della perdita, centrata sulla storia della sua propria famiglia. Se, negli altri due film (Au Commencement, il était une fois des juifs arabes e Les Carnets de Claire), che erano dei puri documentari, un tale intento biografico prendeva la forma ora di una rievocazione storica ora di un ritratto intimo e commosso, qui la contaminazio- ne con la finzione innesta un procedimento di rivelazione di una spiazzante sincerità. (l.b.)
“Ponendomi nel luogo stesso in cui nasce la finzione, là dove persona e personaggio si compenetrano nel corso delle riprese, restando aperto all’imprevisto, anzi provocandolo, facendo in modo che il procedimento filmico prenda il sopravvento sulla storia, ho voluto fare un film aperto, un film attraversato dalla vecchiaia, dall’Algeria, dalla memoria, dalla morte, dalle relazioni amorose, senza mai farne dei temi o delle intenzioni. La forma del film ha seguito questo lento apprendimento della libertà.” (Serge Lalou)
Dopo gli studi di veterinaria, nel 1987 Serge Lalou si unisce a Les Films d’Ici. Da allora ha prodotto più di 150 film, documentari e lungometraggi, inclusi numerosi film riconosciuti e premiati tra cui Valzer con Bashir di Ari Folman, Parc et Adieu di Arnaud Des Pallières, Retour en Normandie e Essere e Avere di Nicolas Philibert, Versailles le rêve d’un Roi di Thierry Binisti. Come regista, Serge Lalou realizza il suo primo lungometraggio nel 2002. After reading Veterinary Science, Serge Lalou joined Les Films d’Ici in 1987. Since then he has produced more than 150 documentaries and feature films, including several awarded films such as Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman, Parc et Adieu by Arnaud Des Pallières, Retour en Normandie and Etre et avoir by Nicholas Philibert, and Versailles le rêve d’un Roi by Thierry Binisti. As director, Serge Lalou realised his first full-length documentary in 2002.
Filmografia: 2010: Et si
2005: Les Carnets de Claire 2002: Entre nous
1997: Au Commencement, il était une fois des juifs arabes 1989: Elle aima, fût aimée et mourut 1987: La Berceuse
“We can’t complain about life. She doesn’t keep anyone,” a seventy-year-old man keeps on repeating to him- self. His story begins one night, when he quits his home and decides to create a new existence for himself. From this fictional episode begins the film proper, that records the work of actors ambiguously swinging between human being and character. Their path begins from a Parisian banlieue, after a series of meetings where they rehearse, sitting around a table, looking for the right approach to get into their roles. The pro- duction development of the film in progress, along with the actors’ personal memories that add to the film’s narrative structure, drive cast and crew to North Africa. Here the quest will be transformed into a journey to the origin of the protagonist’s world: an Algerian village where his family’s Diaspora began. With Et si Serge Lalou has completed a trilogy about transmission and loss, pivoted on the story of his own family. In the earlier episodes (Au Commencement, il était une fois des juifs arabes and Les Carnets de Claire), that were pure documentaries, this biographical aspiration took the shape of historical reconstruction in the former film and of an intimate, moving portrait in the latter. Now, the contamination with fiction sets off a surpris- ingly sincere process of revelation. (l.b.)
“I placed myself in the very spot where fiction is created, where the person and the persona are intertwined during shooting. I remained open to the unpredictable, I even provoked it, so that the film process overpower the story. I wanted to make an open film, a film impregnated by oldness, by Algeria, by memory, by death, by love affairs, without ever turning them into themes or intentions. The film form followed this slow apprentice- ship of freedom.” (Serge Lalou)
VéRéNA PARAVEL, JOHN PAUL SNIADECKI