After the success of “Underwater Stranded”with tickets sold out in all its functions, three new free functions were added to enjoy in May of the documentary that will be screened again at the Cine Select del Pasaje Dardo Rocha next Thursday, May 4, Friday, May 5, and Sunday, May 7 at 8:30 p.m..
“Since we started the screenings of the documentary, the response of the people of La Plata was not surprising and very happy. We always believed that it was a fact that we needed to remember, pay tribute in some way to the deceased people and who suffered so many losses, but we also believed that It was necessary to put latent concerns at the center. We believed it was necessary, but honestly we did not imagine the level of repercussion and acceptance it had”said the director Uriel Fernandez and added: It is very difficult to talk about a tragedy and find the right tone to account for the pain. That was one of our main concerns, that the film would express the depth of the tragedy, but not make pain and suffering the main message. We believed that it was necessary to say that La Plata is a flood-prone city, but not remain in fear of what could happen again. For this reason, one of the messages that we wanted to leave is that the State, at its different levels, is responsible not only for continuing with the plan of works where they have not yet been carried out, but also for beginning a process of raising awareness about what to do in case of flood”.
“We believe that the great acceptance of the film has to do with the fact that it is a problem that affects us as a society and that, beyond the fact that it may be difficult for us to face it, it is necessary to remember and demand, from our role as citizens, that they take the necessary measures to prevent another similar tragedy. We are very especially grateful to each and every one of La Plata who has been accompanying us since the day of the premiere,” closed the filmmaker. The film produced by 0221.com.ar commemorates and educates about the flood of La Plata, suffered in 2013, and adds new projections after the demand of the people of La Plata. The tickets, meanwhile, already can be reserved freely and free of charge.
Based on the testimonies of the flooded, relatives of the deceased, survivors and specialists, “Desamparados bajo el agua” tells and revives stories, images, sensations, knowledge, opinions and complaints in a narrative that starts from the present and continues until the day of the tragedy. During that terrifying night, entire families fought to save themselves and others in the face of the vertiginous rise of the water, and those stories are the ones that are revived through first-person interviews. The documentary goes through a painful journey through current experiences, learning, fears and concerns, and opens the doors to an urgent social call to raise awareness and think about the necessary strategies to avoid another possible urban catastrophe.
“It is a film that tries to reflect the stories that were lived after the flood, going through its different dimensions: people’s life trajectories, how it affected their lives and how they survived it. And the question of what is currently happening in the city regarding possible new floods,” says Alejandra Espondaone of the ideologues of the documentary directed by Uriel Fernandez. Together, they began working in November of last year and with a large team behind them made up of scriptwriters, artistic producers, art directors, photography directors, editors, editors, designers, animators, sound engineers, journalists and a band of thirteen musicians, among others. collaborators.
“La Plata is located in a floodplain and that is why all the decisions that were made at the time of the foundation had to do with building a city behind nature. Intubating the streams and putting ourselves above is a structural situation that is very difficult to modify later”, reflects the Graduate, Magister and PhD in Social Anthropology. “Is all this remembered in our city? Why not? Are we prepared in the event of a new flood? Whose responsibility is it for society to know how to react to a new event?” Esponda wonders. . That is the axis that runs through all this audiovisual production.
“We try to emphasize that it is a State policy, mainly because it should be an issue that goes through the three levels (municipal, provincial and national), and that also went through the different efforts: it is not a matter of the previous government , of the current one or of the one to come; the same interviewees tell you ‘there is no crack here’. It is not a matter of a political party but of a state institution”, the director also remarks.
In addition to the testimonies of residents affected by the rise in water, in the documentary different specialists who studied the tragedy say present, such as meteorologists from the UNLP Observatory, urban architects, the director of the Children’s Hospital and rescue workers, among others.. There are no voices from politicians or judicial officials, but the whole debate about the number of deaths is present, and this questioning of the role of justice is a recurring theme in the testimonies. “There is a complaint that Justice did not reach and that it never ends up being up to the circumstances of what society needs as reparation, because finally a single person with a much lesser role in management ends up being sentenced. The objective of the documentary is to say ‘let’s talk about this, let’s take responsibility as a society and especially those who have responsibilities”, says Esponda.
“We must take into account that we live in a territory that if it rains in the same way, beyond the works that have been done to mitigate its effects, it can flood again. What do we do about that? In a region that There are earthquakes, the children know what to do, our children do not have environmental training at school that allows them to know the territory, we raise it more from there”, he deepens. It is an invitation to rethink the actions that are carried out in the capital of the province of Buenos Aires by governments and private parties, such as construction companies. “There is no state policy that says what is the flood zone, what is the safe corridor; these are issues that are not discussed,” she insists.
The testimonials are strong. All the stories are traversed by the pain and sadness of a memory that is present all the time, despite the fact that the thousands of neighbors who at that moment did go out to demonstrate to demand justice for the heads of the efforts that administered the city, the province and the country: the mayor Pablo Bruerathe governor Daniel Scioli and the president Cristina Fernandez. “At the time of doing the interviews we met people who said that La Plata has no memory of the flood,” says Esponda.
And when it comes to reflecting on the teaching that the passage of time leaves behind, the filmmaker thinks that “we have a social problem, beyond the specific responsibilities that exist, to be able to work with this recent, close and tragic history that we had to live There is a state responsibility at all levels to face this problem as a city -if we know that the works are not enough, we must know how to train citizens so that they know what to do in case of flooding, as if we lived in an earthquake zone – but there are also social issues that we have to discuss. From 0221.com.ar, just as we take charge of what happened during the dictatorship and carry out the Huellas site, we share this spirit of remembering to put on the table the issues that concern us as La Plata. As a medium we take charge of rethinking all these situations.”
“The rain was extraordinary but it can happen again and it will find us unprepared,” repeats Esponda, who highlights the level of production and realization of the documentary: “It is a product in which we try to be very careful when it comes to its treatment and is carried out with the aim of having the highest possible quality in technical terms as well, taking care of all the details”.
“Desamparados bajo agua” premiered on Sunday, April 2, and the screening continued every Tuesday in April. These three free features will now be added in May.
