After the successful passage through the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), where it received a special mention, premieres the southeastthe first fiction of Daniel Casabe and edgardo dieleke. It is a comedy that plays with the documentary and the thriller hitchcockianin an adaptation of the artist’s graphic novel of the same name Juan Saenz Valiente.
The film focuses on the story of Jorge “the Hound” Villafañez (Juan Carrasco), a lonely, macho and selfish private detective who is hired by Elvira’s husband (Katja German), a famous choreographer, to pursue her. He will be captivated with her and a series of unexpected events will be unleashed. All submerged in the captivating atmospheres of the Buenos Aires delta and the city of Buenos Aires.
It may interest you: Katja Alemann returns to the cinema with “La Sudestada”, which is presented at BAFICI
Unlike the comic, the incorporation of Katja German it gives it a whole documentary aspect, since photos and audiovisual material of him appear together with fragments of experimental films that he made in the 70s. In addition, dance plays a fundamental role: fragments of the work are seen “Inside”, from the choreographer Diana Szeinblum and she also got directly involved by contributing her team of dancers (made up of Pablo Castronovo, Barbara Hang and Andres Molina) and becoming Katja’s dance coach and Juan Carrasco.
Infobae Culture talked with Katja German about his leading role in Sudestada and the return with this leading role to the big screen.
—What captivated you to accept the role?
—I loved the story from the start because it has a lot to do with me, with my work. Both my character and the film refer to creative work. The “hound” that has to investigate the protagonist is suddenly revealed with this creative work, with this artistic process that this woman is doing and the substance of the film is the impact that it produces on him, a relatively neophyte person, discover all that artistic world of hers. I really liked the story and obviously the character seemed the best to me, he seemed made for me.
I got into Elvira’s head a lot because I understood what was happening to her in that creative search that she is having when facing her retrospective. She is very distressed because she can’t find what she wants to do. She interested me in the idea of beauty that the directors proposed, a timeless one that has nothing to do with traditional models. A beauty born of freedom. The story that is told is not very common in Argentine cinema, it has many dream shots and a mixture of realities.
—How was it to rediscover those videos that your mother had filmed and were used to give context to your character?
—Now there is a lot of interest in my mother’s work, Marie Louise German, as an experimental filmmaker. Last year they did a retrospective of his work at the Rolf Art Gallery and there are also her films in which I participated. What was used is ring side, which we did when I returned from Europe in 1979. The directors knew my mother’s work and looked for material that matched the spirit they wanted to give the protagonist. They are very documentalists and they like this mixture of fiction with reality and knowing that I had that background of having done so many experimental works helped them to tell the story of the protagonist.
—How was the chemistry with Juan Carrasco, the other protagonist?
—I met him on set, I thought he was a charming person, a very good actor. He takes the point of view of the film, everything happens through his gaze and I really liked the work he did.
—What happened to you when you saw the finished film?
I saw her the first time BAFICIOf course, I was aware of some details, one looks at specific things. But what I felt, seeing it with an audience, is that people go on a trip and that seemed divine to me, since cinema is taking you on a journey in a story, in a tale, with the images of the Delta, the use of sound and the few dialogues make you really immerse yourself in that story, especially in this film that has so much of a dream, of fantasies, of what happens to the protagonist, of his fears, together with the choreographies.
—How was the inclusion of dance?
—It was a pleasure to dance again and give that performative flight to the film. One of the great challenges we had with Diana Szeinblum It was showing nudity from another perspective, one that had nothing to do with sexual eroticism, but with vital, creative eroticism, closer to nature. All the movements we made had to do with this concept.
—What did you feel when you went back to a film set?
—I am happy to be back in the audiovisual industry. I did a lot of theater in recent years and suddenly they started calling me for this movie and for a miniseries. What I see the most when choosing a role is the story, the person who proposes it to me and the character, which would be the most important thing, I have to be able to imagine it to do it.
—How do you see the current situation of the Argentine audiovisual industry?
—It’s complicated, last year we almost ran out of funds to promote culture, we had to fight tooth and nail so that they at least extend this expiration law for 50 years. There are many people who do not understand what culture is for, they believe that it has to be a business. National identity is very valuable. Culture is precisely what counts for our national identity, if we don’t have culture, we don’t have an identity, how are we going to tell the world who we are?
A country without identity is a ship adrift. The cinema is an ambassador of the countries. In addition, there has to be strong support from the INCAAsince it would be impossible to shoot small movies like these and also the big productions. the southeast It is nice to show a lot of images of the Delta: then it is to show the country in which we live outwards and that also results in tourism later.
* the southeastby Daniel Casabé and Edgardo Dieleke, opens in theaters in Argentina starting this Thursday the 11th.
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