10 · 07 · 07

Déficit denounces the reality we are living through: Gael García Bernal

Doris Morales/Translated by Vicente Castañar

[imagen]Yesterday at a media conference, Gael García Bernal talked about his opera prima, Déficit, which is being exhibited for the first time within the 5th Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia.
 
Background
"This one time Alvaro and I were going to a party, and we asked for directions, it was very funny that we got the wrong directions to go to the party. This episode was the core of the project, there wasn’t much to tell but the situation was very interesting, in a cinematic way.”

Writing the script
"Sometime afterwards, Kyzz (script writer) gave all this story a twist and then all of it made sense for it to become a movie. It was an urgent project, we wanted to make it happen at all costs. Finally we all got together, it was very natural, all the actors worked hard to portray the characters.”

Team work
"It was a transcendental revelation when we began to work, because we had a great story to tell, we were going to have a good time, we were venturing into something, like doing paragliding without having practiced our landings before hand. It was really complicated, we started this journey and we enjoyed it all the way, and we also suffered some. It was a lot of hard work, but we finally managed. We had a really great time, you, the viewer can sense that it was an ordeal, we had a really great time but it was an ordeal, we were very professional about doing it, we all did our best.”
[imagen]Video or film format?
"We used video, it was a small production, we are very proud, we didn’t have a lot of money, it has traveled a lot, now it is here at Morelia, this place feels very familiar, my dad is from here.”
This is the first time we show this film to a Mexican public, and it will be probably understood in a different way than at Cannes or Toronto.”

Gael García Bernal also mentioned, "this film has a lot of political undertones, one finds a narrative layer of meaning which denounces our present day reality. The situations the characters live through aren’t really ups and downs, they are constant fears and an identity search, these elements make up the story.

Finally Gael concluded his talk: "I think that in Mexico you can place a camera at any spot and you are making an immediate criticism, due to the injustices we must live through. Sometimes we don’t even understand what we are seeing and the movies help us see better, either documentaries or fiction, they both help us reflect this reality; sometimes we can even change things. I have been changed by movies, but I can’t say with certainty that films do change people for the best.”