10 · 24 · 18 Lila Avilés presented La Camarista in the 16th FICM Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Azul Ramírez @azulartx y Marco Mejía @MiqkelMejia The Mexican director and actress Lila Avilés, presented her debut feature La Camarista, a film that is part of the Mexican Feature Film Section of the 16th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). She was accompanied by producer Tatiana Graullera and actresses Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez and Agustina Quinci. Agustina Quinci, Tatiana Graullera, Lila Avilés, Gabriela Cartol and Teresa Sánchez. The film tells the story of Eve, a lonely chambermaid who, in her desire to be someone else, discovers different universes behind each object abandoned by guests in the luxurious rooms she cleans in the hotel where she works. Eve dreams through them and transforms her loneliness into company. La Camarista comes from a play written by the director seven years ago called La Camarera, inspired by the visual artist Sophie Calle who made a photographic series while working as a waitress in a hotel in Venice: "As I am very curious, I wrote the play based on the speech of Sophie Calle, which I presented at the Intercontinental Hotel in Mexico City. When I walked into the hotel, I decided that I wanted to make a film," said the director. The creative process of the screenplay allowed Lila Avilés to know different stories, among which she had to take the most valuable elements: "I went to different hotels, hanging out with maids, it became a need at some point, something was pulling me to talk to them; there were so many stories that we didn't know where to go, I had to say enough and take back the essence of the story I wanted to tell and I created a character for whom I felt a lot of empathy". "From the beginning, I was very interested in a voyeuristic approach, I was interested in being able to observe in the most mundane and banal things a certain beauty or a certain humanity, I was very clear that I wanted sequences of a shot and a lot of profile," said Lila. The actresses Gabriela Cartol and Teresa Sánchez praised the hard work done by the chambermaids: "I always felt awkward, it took me almost three hours to understand the mechanism of the maids; we had to be there and learn these stretching tips, the strict quality control. I honor this job like many others and you cannot believe how demanding it is to even make a bed," said Teresa Sánchez.
