Raised in Ciudad Evita, The slaughter, the director Gustavo Winkler tells how he managed to carry the movie theater and its magic, to the cultural context of the suburbs. Product of that effort is the short film “Last year in Tapiales” a story based on real events, which occurred in Tapiales, Matanza party. It recounts, in black and white, the fortuitous reunion of two former lovers. The answer to the riddle about the rupture is found in a letter that survived time, within the traditional ombú of the area’s plaza, for more than 20 years.
Gustavo Winkler, At that time, a young film lover, interested in art and the social, dropped out of Political Science during the turbulent 2001 and began his studies at ENERC, to become a film producer. With several short films to his credit, he embarked on the idea of bringing filmmaking closer to vulnerable areas of the Buenos Aires suburbs. It was thus that, with a 100% Matanzas team, “Last year in Tapiales” was filmed together with Julio Caloggero. It is a sensitive, independent short film with an artistic vision within a neighborhood and manners landscape, which maintains the cinematographic legacy of Francois Truffaut’s films.
What is your experience in the field of community cinema?
For ten years I have been a teacher at the only Municipal Film Workshop in La Matanza, called “Matanza Vamos a Filmar”. It is a space of the House of Culture of Laferrere, where we teach for free, annually and without age limit: the practice of how to make community cinema, aimed at the premiere at film festivals.
These ten years allowed more than 50 short films to be produced and various film production companies oriented to audiovisual culture to be born. A network of independent audiovisual production companies was created and with the premiere of “Last year in Tapiales” in Cine.Ar Play, this growth is consolidated.
Do youWhat mechanisms do you think could be adjusted or encouraged so that more films are produced?
It is necessary to maintain a promotion fund according to the current context, which allows to encourage the production of films of all themes and diversity. The main European countries have regulatory institutions that incentivize the production and support of the audiovisual market aimed at both the national and international public. Ideally, the incentive should be to all types of production, but focused on medium and small productions that have a rich field of innovation and creativity unknown to the market, both due to a deficit in distribution and communication.
Do youWhat themes attract you to film?
My experience is focused on the genre of urban comedy that had very good critical and reception results. I am much more attracted to the psychological thriller and the surreal film noir as a way to a first film. David Lynch, David Cronenberg, David Fincher even Hugo Del Carril, Damián Szifron and Gaspar Noe are references of a style of auteur cinema that inspires me, like many young filmmakers.
How was the short film project “Last year in Tapiales” born?
It was the second installment of a trilogy of short films that we made together with Julio Caloggero, who won the award for best short film at the Latin American Film Festival LatinUy in Punta del Este. A long journey that ends with the screening on the Cine Ar Play platform this year. In 2014, we filmed “Love Bondi Story” which was screened at various national and international film festivals. Its diffusion and the good reception allowed us to prepare a sequel and, in 2019, we were able to close the trilogy with the production of the traditional comedy “We are all Roberto”.
What impact did the film’s journey on various screens have on your work as a filmmaker?
In 2018, as a result of my experience with the short film, I received a scholarship from the San Antonio de los Baños International Film and TV School in Cuba. I resided on the outskirts of Havana for almost a month, in the facilities of the school founded in 1986 by Gabriel García Márquez, with a background in film criticism, and the Argentine documentary maker Fernando Birri, with the support of the Cuban ruler at that time, Fidel Castro. This institution forms part, together with the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana, of a Foundation that is part of the Committee of Latin American Filmmakers, chaired by Fernando Birri himself, accompanied by the recently deceased Argentine producer Coco Blaustein. What I studied in the Low Budget Film Workshop of the filmmaker Hector Tokman, allowed me to develop other projects and participate in other festivals.
After your experience in Cuba, which trained you and supported you in community cinema, how did you continue your path in this regard?
I was summoned by SIGNIS Argentina to be a Jury in the delivery of the SIGNIS Award. It is an international association of communicators that participates with its prizes in the international festivals of San Sebastián, Venice and many more. In Argentina it develops numerous “edu-communicative” projects aimed at low-income boys and young people, to link them to the audiovisual and cinematographic language with its “Cine Mundo Chico” Program. After finishing my work in the awards, I took a course at the Javeriana University of Bogotá, with a grant from the association, to promote educational development in audiovisual language in La Matanza. Today in the Puerta de Hierro and Monoblock de Tablada neighborhoods we held the Audiovisual Workshop for Digital Communication, with the participation of almost 50 young people from the area.
Do youIs it true that the Argentine public is not very adept at national cinema?
It is something that has been changing throughout the last decades. The recognition of Argentine cinema was imposed from abroad, with numerous awards and presence at festivals. “The secret of your eyes” and “Wild stories” to more independent films such as “Rojo” or “Alanís”, to name a few, obtained their place of reference in national cinema. Many of these films were sometimes not accompanied by the local box office, not so much for a matter of prejudice, but for a matter of communication and marketing that in relation to Argentine cinema was never consolidated in a systemic way, compared to American films. . The premieres of Argentine films, for years, have a limited exhibition circuit. With the boom in platforms, it may be the opportunity to change that paradigm.
Do youA recommendation from the national cinema that we cannot miss?
My recommendation is that they accompany the national film festivals. They are screens for Argentine films that do not usually have premieres in commercial theaters and have a level of creativity recognized abroad. Festivals such as the Tapiales Film Festival, the Unusual Film Festival, the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre or the Nave de los Sueños, show auteur films of various themes: manners, terror, experimental or documentary that includes another type of cinema. A cinema that opens the mind and provides a value that cannot be found on platforms or commercial theaters.
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