10 · 18 · 14

Press Screening of En La Estancia by Carlos Armella

En La Estancia / The Land of Silence (2014) by Carlos Armella, from the Mexican Feature Film Section in competition at the 12th FICM, was presented to the press at Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

The film is the first feature film directed by Carlos Armella, who has previously directed short films and documentaries, with notable achievements in both formats. For example, with the short film Tierra y pan (2008) he won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and with Toro Negro (2005), co-directed by Pedro González Rubio, he won the Best Feature Length Documentary award at the 3^rd FICM. En La Estancia was produced by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who Armella has worked with on several occasions and who he considers to be his mentor. The film tells the story of the last two inhabitants of a village named La Estancia and a documentary filmmaker who arrives to film their lives and then leaves promising to return. The cast is a mixture of both professional and non-professional actors.

The film premiered under the title of Las voces at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January of this year, but it was withdrawn because the director felt it needed more postproduction work and now, for the first time, it will be screened in its completed version at the 12^th FICM. Among the influences of Carlos Armella are Terrence Malick, Werner Herzog, Andrei Tarkovsky and Michael Haneke, according to an interview that the director gave the institution Casa de América.

Carlos Armella, producer Yadira Aedo, actors Gilberto Barraza and Waldo Facco, as well as musician Carlos Mier, attended the press screening.

Carlos Armello on the relationship of En La Estancia with Toro Negro:

I wanted to address the documentary part of the film in a very similar way to how we approached Toro Negro: a man with a camera following these characters and by pursuing them, build a relationship.”

Carlos Armella on the support of Alejandro González Iñárritu:

“He has been a mentor for several years, ever since he saw Toro Negro, when he invited me to work on Babel (2006). He also participated in my short film Tierra y Pan. And in this film, once I finished the documentary part, I showed him the film and from then on until recently when I would talk with him, he gave me lot of moral support. The executive producer credit is mainly because of the help that he was able to give to the film and as a way of recognizing what his support meant. He would watch the film and call me to discuss it for an hour and then I would send him another cut. Something that was very special was the respect he had not to impose things.”

Carlos Armella on the influence of Juan Rulfo’s work on En La Estancia:

“The first time Alejandro saw the film, he used one word, “Rulfiano,” so what can I say? I’ve loved Rulfo’s work ever since I read it as a teenager. It was something that left its mark on me. It was not like when I was making this film that I took Llano en llamas and asked myself how did Rulfo capture it. One does not deny the cross of his parish.”

Gilberto Barraza on the experience of working with non-professional actor Don Chuy:

“Working with Don Jesús was a great adventure. It was getting into his story and then start creating the character of his son, Juan Diego. It was marvelous working with Don Jesús.”

The premiere of En La Estancia will take place at a gala screening on Saturday, October 18, at 4 pm at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro, with a red carpet and the presence of the cast.

Coverage by Gabriel Andrade Espinosa (@gabolonio)