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Alonso Ruizpalacios presented Museo at the 16th FICM

Azul Ramírez @azulartx

The Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios held a press conference where he presented his most recent film, Museo, which is part of the Mexican Feature Film Section at the 16th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). Present during the event were the producers of the film Gerardo Gatica, Alberto Müffelmann and Ramiro Ruiz, the screenwriter, Manuel Alcalá, as well as the actors Gael García Bernal, Leonardo Ortizgris and Ilse Salas.

Museo is based on the crime committed by Carlos Perches Treviño and Ramón Sardina García, a couple of Veterinary students who stole 143 pieces from the National Museum of Anthropology at dawn on December 25, 1985.

Gerardo Gatica, the producer, moderated and explained that the process of making the film began 14 years ago, "We started the script from scratch with Manuel's (Alcalá) great research as the foundation, but the history began being reconstructed when Alonso joined the project."

For his part, the screenwriter Manuel Alcalá explained that the story came to be thanks to his journalist father: "There always was an obsession with the news in the house. I had that memory about the theft, I started to investigate, and I found several of the characters who were involved. I started writing the screenplay and six years ago we started talking about how to take the project, develop it and find a director," he said.

The project took several years due to the complexity of filming a story that takes place in Mexico City during the eighties. "The film had to be done at the right time and that time is now," said producer Alberto Müffelmann.

Alonso Ruizpalacios spoke of the importance of media's role in broadcasting the films and shared that the first versions of the script were truer to reality than the final cut: "Manuel shared his research with me along with interviews made to friends of the people who committed the robbery and we wandered around Satellite. It was an interesting process to find what didn't work with the script. We realized that there was a great theme, how history is full of fiction; a historian can assert some fact and someone else can refute it," he said.

For his part, Ramiro Ruiz, producer, spoke of the importance of making a powerful film where you could see the greatness of the Museum of Anthropology and History. "We managed to make a film that transcends several lines of what is being done today. It was a sum of talent. When the whole team has the same idea in their heads about a film, the results are very good".

Leonardo Ortizgris and Gael García Bernal praised the work of Ruizpalacios when directing actors. "I have learned that films are made by directors, they are the ones who have a point of view and it is our job to solve and give flight to what is needed," said Gael. Ilse Salas said that the most valuable part of her work was before filming: "The exciting thing about my role was to draw and build this family that represents the Mexican idiosyncrasy".