The movie premiere “On the margins” allows the wonderful opportunity to dialogue with Juan Diego Bottowho performs a double role as interpreter and director, in this title nominated for five Goya Awards and which constitutes his first film as a filmmaker.
Together with his partner, the journalist Olga Rodríguez, Botto also wrote the script for “En los margínes”, starring Penélope Cruz and Luis Tosar, a story of marginalized workers from the system, based on the story of the cruel eviction policy in Spain.
Born in Buenos Aires, on August 29, 1975, at the age of two he had to leave with his family for Spain, which became his adoptive country, after the disappearance and murder of his father Diego Fernando Botto in the dark period of the military dictatorship.
Juan Diego Botto talks with NOTICIAS from Bogotá, where he was presenting his theatrical show “Una noche sin luna”, a work of his own in which he pays homage to Federico Garcìa Lorca.
News: What motivated you from that story that “En los margínes” tells to transform it into your first feature film?
Juan Diego Botto: The start of this film was relatively random, I was doing a play called “An invisible piece of this world”, Penelope Cruz came to see the show and when she left she told me she wanted me to write something for us to do together. She suggested that it be a story of jealousy, that didn’t work out for me, but this image emerged of a couple arguing because of jealousy the night before they were kicked out of her house. The jealous discussion between them didn’t interest me much, but the eviction issue did, and my partner Olga Rodríguez, who is a journalist, was covering that issue a lot. There we began a long journey investigating, once I got to know that reality and the people who were experiencing situations like this, I felt impelled to tell their story.
News: And what was it like exercising that double facet of director and interpreter?
Bottom: Since the original idea that was transformed had come from Penélope Cruz, at first her character was going to be bigger, then as you develop the script the writing acquires its own logic and pushes you forward. The only character I could play was a smaller one and I preferred it that way because directing and acting at the same time, especially in my first film, seemed excessively ambitious to me but it came very naturally.
News: I read some of his statements where he said that Spanish cinema is very diverse, but pays little attention to poverty. Is it because they believe that the subject is not very popular or box office?
Bottom: I think there are various factors, in Spanish cinema we have everything and also social cinema, but obviously it is not the majority. It undoubtedly has to do with the fact that it is very difficult to raise a film project, get financing, with which people a priori look for stories that can excite a producer, a television channel or a streaming platform and they think that cinema It is not the most attractive for the box office. It must also be taken into account that film academies are particularly expensive in Spain, so the people who can access are from the middle class or upper middle class and usually tell stories that are relevant to them. closer, there aren’t many working-class filmmakers.
News: At the time, a critic said that “On the margins” was a clear example of when cinema and militancy go hand in hand. Do you consider it so?
Bottom: I think it’s a film and it dialogues more with a documentary or journalistic work than with a militant action, although I see it as a compliment if it refers to the fact that it has a clear and defined position. Obviously there is an intention and a point of view, but that position has to do with what Olga Rodríguez, co-writer of the film, and I observe of reality itself. I think something is wrong, there is another militant cinema where one does not perceive the militancy. A cinema that contributes to maintaining certain views, a certain status quo, an activist cinema that is never perceived as such. The curious thing is that only films, plays or novels that bet on a critique of the established are those that are considered militants.
News: He is very dedicated to the theater and one of the roles he has done is Hamlet, a man who seeks justice for the murder of his father. I guess he must have meant a lot to you.
Bottom: Undoubtedly, when I faced this project, which was very ambitious on my part because I directed and acted in the show, evidently what was in the background was the search for justice for this young man for the murder of his father. This perception of impunity that is present throughout the entire work and its desperate need for justice, is something that had a lot of weight when facing the setting. It was very nice and gratifying, but I think I also learned that I was never going to direct and act in theater again. It’s easier to do it on film.
News: Did you get to see “Argentina, 1985”? Based on her life story, how did she feel about the film?
Bottom: Yes, I got to see it and enjoy it because it is excellent. There is a moment that particularly moved me. There is a scene where they are choosing the young people who are going to help in the Prosecutor’s Office and this man interviews his own son. Well, that son of Carlos Somigliana, whom they call Maco, was the person who, many years after what the film tells, ended up working in Forensic Anthropologists for Human Rights and was the one who told me that my father had been to the School of Mechanics. of the Navy. When I saw the film and recognized that this character is Maco, I was moved because for me that man has a singular importance in our lives. He was the one who told us that there were two witnesses who had seen my dad at ESMA, he was even able to verify the months, with which he opened a very important door for our family. Even my mother was able to testify in the ESMA 2 case and that was fundamental in our lives, really so many years later one did not expect to find justice and that those responsible for the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of my father could sit in the dock and we would witness a trial with all legal guarantees and an effective sentence.
News: Here we discover it by Adolfo Aristarain from “Martín (Hache)” with whom they later repeated the experience in “Roma”. How has it been working with him?
Bottom: Possibly the films I made with Adolfo are the two most rewarding experiences of my life. I think that “Martín (Hache)” is one of the most beautiful films I have ever made, it is one of those that you have the feeling will last over time, the same thing happens to me with “Roma”. Adolfo has the ability to put all his heart into the stories.
by Leonardo Martinelli
