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Chronicle of the Times: Interview with Everardo González

Gabriela Martínez @GabbMartivel

El documental La libertad del diablo, de Everardo González, fue una de las películas ganadoras en Impulso Morelia 2016 en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (FICM) y fue presentada durante el 15° FICM.

La cinta que aborda la violencia a través de entrevistas a víctimas y victimarios. Por medio de testimonios de personas cuyos rostros están enmascarados, se conocen sus miedos y su relación con la sociedad indiferente.

En entrevista para el FICM, Everardo González habló de su trabajo como documentalista y del papel que jugó Impulso Morelia en la producción de La libertad del diablo.

In the past, you have defined yourself as a chronicler rather than as a documentalist, why?

I like to feel on the side of people like the brothers Alva, Mayo or Casasola, whose mission was to register the image for posterity. I remember a lot that I had this restlessness when I started to film Los ladrones viejos (2007), I was wondering how Chucho el Roto would behave, and there was no record of that. That is why it was important for me to contribute to the permanence of the image, so that in the future the new generations will know how we talked, what our problems were or how we behaved. One of the nice things about cinema is to look at reality from the other.

I really like to see everyday life in movies, simple things that let me see something else. That's what the documentary allows me to do: chronicle the times. I don't know if I'm a chronicler, but I like to think so.

How do you build the characters in your stories?

I value if the person has a personality with the possibility of building a character, and that is where I appeal to the basic dramatic genres. A character with strong narrative premises, who knows he will be killed, for example, is a dramatic character. I try to analyze if it is possible to follow a character or instead, a plot or an event.

Do you have a filmmaker that you consider your influence?

I like Werner Herzog because his cinema is an exercise in iron will, he is someone unstoppable who has a vital need to make films beyond success or failure and for me that is a genuine filmmaker.