The Jalisco film, “Allá, cartas al corazón”, by Mexican director Montserrat Larqué, will have its world premiere during the 38th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG); In addition, it participates in the “Made in Jalisco” category. The main actors are Pablo Astiazaran and the cover Fatima Molina. THE REPORTER He spoke with the director and the protagonist about this project that was shot in a pandemic.
“The film was made with talent from Jalisco, in a Jalisco area with a crew from Jalisco, so it is the perfect category (that of ‘Made in Jalisco’) to which this film belongs and allows us to premiere it accompanied by the people with whom We did it. So, of course, it is very exciting and fortunate to be able to do it like this”, shares the director, who is also a scriptwriter for the project.
Remember that the tape has more than seven years in the making. Larqué had previously made short films, but had not written a movie. So when she tried to structure an idea, she realized that she did not know, so she decided to study and start taking tools to put her script into practice with tutors and teachers who supported her.
When she wanted to make the film, she says that the producers she spoke to didn’t see the same film as her, “or we had very different visions. And that is very important because a producer works for a film”. In between, they selected the project at a co-production forum in London, at an independent film festival. In that edition, the guest country was Mexico, and while there she met those who would be her partners, but Mexicans. Then came the financing process. She points out that with this experience she also learned what it means to produce.
Later, the pandemic arrived, which meant another pause, but in that period he was able to find the ideal location for his film, a town in Amatitán called La Villa de Cuerámbaro: “It is a small town of just over 300 inhabitants and we filmed it there , with very strong weather conditions that kept us dehydrated, with many bugs and some (of the crew) who got sick for a while, but there was a generosity in the population with landscapes and sunsets that are in the movie, which was worth it every effort.”
An extraordinary experience
Pablo, for his part, tells how the experience of the film was. He plays “Óscar”, a young man who comes to his town to say goodbye to his father, he is the only man in this town because everyone else is in the United States. There he meets the women who live there and establishes a community relationship with them, but especially with one of them who will steal his heart. His father was the postman of the town and now he will debate if he returns home or if he continues with his father’s job.
“I love to travel with my work and in this case it went to a ranch and it is what you imagine it to be, it was great, it was literally being in a bubble where we were as well as in the movie, incommunicado, without a phone signal or Wifi. So, that allowed us to be able to inhabit the essence of the film, which is to be there and nothing else, there were no other distractions, (the film) forced you to be there, even, already used to it, you were grateful, because there was something very familiar about say, ‘I’m with my family watching the same thing’, mounted on the same train to be able to make the best possible film”.
Regarding the development of his role and the context of the plot, he emphasizes that they are directed from a nostalgic, loving and rediscovery point of view. “Curiously, what sadly taught me (the project) to value what was mine, was the loss. This they say that nobody knows what they have until they see it lost, well yes. The things that have really marked me have been through loss. And for me, ‘Óscar’ in a very personal way, was also a kind of catalyst, to be able to find this path of healing and artistic expression to something that I also bring and will bring for the rest of my life, which is returning to the yours, where maybe it may be too late, but it’s still your thing.”
Synopsis
Faced with the imminent death of his father, the town postman, “Óscar”, returns to Mexico for the first time and finds that he is now the only man among the handful of women who inhabit this small place where the telephone never reached nor the Internet. While he tries to return to the United States, he takes charge of the mail and thus learns the stories and wishes of the inhabitants, among them a child who asks about the letters from his father. “Óscar” writes him the long-awaited letters and begins to bond with him and with “Martha”, his mother. When he can finally leave, he no longer wants to and will have to decide between coming back or staying and rebuilding his life.
Agenda
Functions in the FICG
Hoy 3 of June, at 1:40 p.m., at the Cineforo. Sunday June 4, at 4:30 p.m., at Cinemex Sania. Monday 5th Juneat 5:30 p.m., in Room 4 of the FICG Cinematheque.
CT
Themes
Read Also
Get the latest news in your email
Everything you need to know to start your day
Registering implies accepting the Terms and Conditions
