The call for the meeting with NEWS is in Ravignani street. The fateful and sadly famous block in which the horrifying femicide of Ángeles Rawson took place.
In contrast, the work space of Julio Chavez it conjures ancient fears and offers an imitation of life since creation in its many forms. A neat and silent redoubt, full of art and photography books, designed for concentration and work, a place where mothers would be afraid that their children would run through the corridors and break something valuable.
Accustomed to praise, praise, applause and ovations, the interpreter of “Teacher” Y “The Green Tiger” In this opportunity, he offers his most vulnerable facet by exhibiting himself in front of the world as a beginning director in his first film. “When I look at her”a story hierarchized by the magnetic presence of Marilu Marini.
A careful host, he is not concerned with being pleasant or friendly. He likes to feel heard, which makes him an ideal interviewee.
News: Reviewing his works, one of the ones that stands out is “Treat me well”. Why is it difficult for us Argentines to treat each other well?
Julio Chavez: I am the son of a German Jew, I would not say “Argentines” because thank God he was able to come here, otherwise he would have died in the gas chamber, I do not consider mistreatment to be an Argentine invention. But beyond that, I think that when there are two human beings who meet, there is the possibility of mistreatment, despite the advances and everything that is said, freedom, fraternity, equality and all that, are ideas that work as a categorical, almost ethical imperative. Human beings are very complex and I believe that if there is something that invites mistreatment, it is disappointment. The disappointment that the world is not what one wants, that the other makes it difficult for us to be happy or gets in the way of that idea of happiness. That is why people fall in love and treat each other well while there is a project, but as soon as it weakens or begins to manifest difficulties and we have to work, think, reflect, that sometimes makes us lazy, anguish and generates abuse. And that can become something everyday because there is an abuse that can be punctual and another that is a custom, a way of identity.
News: Social networks are prone to all kinds of abuse, for example. How do you see this phenomenon?
Chávez: I am struck by the mistreatment on the networks, that of the anonymous and that of the non-anonymous. Because when I started in life, if you mistreated a person or defamed someone, prepare yourself because they rang your bell and told you: “You spoke ill of me.” There was a risk in the act and a return, because it was not a community and popular verbal return where eight million find out, but a personal one. At that time, the fact that the recipient of your words appeared had a value, today we are quite anesthetized in relation to the value of the person in front of us.
News: One of his most remembered films as an actor is “The Lion’s Share”. How did Aristarain film it in the middle of the dictatorship?
Chavez: Apparently the book was presented as more innocent than was intended. In ’75 we filmed “Don’t touch the baby”, it was shown in ’76 and by then 90% of the actors who had participated were not in the country. Luis Politti, Norma Aleandro, Lautaro Murúa, Pepe Soriano, all were exiled, the premiere was a kind of wake where the absent were doubly present due to the circumstances. In ’82 we filmed “Nobody’s Lady”, the film by María Luisa Bemberg and the day the reviews of the film came out, the takeover of Malvinas was on the top of the newspapers. I always remember difficulties, very particular situations. Now in Argentina you never know what you’re going to wake up with, in those times the circumstances were dire but very clear and I never doubted which side I was on. In fact, I was not forced to leave the country, but I had to abandon many things. I was 18 years old and I left the Conservatory, it was impossible to study and work, you asked all the time if you were on the black list. It was all very categorical unfortunately.
News: With the success of “Argentina, 1985” it occurred to me that you never made historical characters, only fictional ones. Was it by choice?
Chávez: It is very difficult for me to put texts on myself that I am not sure are reliable. It inhibits me to think that the father, mother or daughter of someone real can see it. And in general it seems to me that it is a competition in which on the one hand you will always win, because you are an actor, but for me life will always be better than what you did. A few years ago Suar had talked to me about doing the life of Favaloro, but since I feel very pressured to ask myself if the facts are as they are told, I prefer fiction. The other day I saw a black and white photo of Strassera at the Board Trial, I looked at his face, his expression, and Strassera didn’t know it was Strassera. It was a very strong and particular fact that was not celebrated, it was an act full of courage and humanity so great that, how can I compete with that?
News: You mentioned Suar and he also made his debut this year as a director, Peretti is preparing his first film… Is there a moment when the actor is no longer enough with the interpretation to tell what he wants and needs to direct?
Chavez: I don’t necessarily believe that at all. In my case, it happens that I have been training as a director. I direct and am a playwright, I am a painter, I am a visual artist, there are many doors that have been opening without me knowing it. In fact, every time they asked me if I was interested in directing a film, I always said no, because it seemed like a very complex art. I didn’t direct because it’s not enough for me but because I’m curious about many areas in which I develop and making a film is a bit of an exercise in that curiosity.
News: In “When I watch her” you not only direct, you also act and it occurs to me that this double role increases the complexity. Was it always clear to you that you wanted to do both?
Chavez: Not really, because when we finished writing the script with Camila Mansilla, I began to share it without thinking of directing it. At the time he had offered it to Daniel Barone, but things turned out in such a way that… you saw what life is like, the cook was missing and you started making French fries. And suddenly you say how lucky, I didn’t know I wanted to make fries. When during the previous preparation I started to do my homework I understood that I wanted to make the film and not only that, I understood that it was going to be very difficult for a director to film it.
News: Here you also star, but if Suar comes for example and asks you what you want to direct him and Francella, would you accept? Would you direct other actors?
Chavez: Look, if it is a project in which I am interested in what is going to be told and I imagine that I could direct those actors, I do it. But being a director does not mean that you can direct any colleague, being a director is a strategy. And you can’t have the same strategy with any ship, in any ocean. Personally, I don’t imagine that I can direct Suar or Francella because they are very autonomous instruments and I consider that the director has to direct, I don’t believe in democracy there. The director has a look and decides, I’m not going to be looking at the monitor, or asking my colleague if he thinks what I’m doing is okay.
News: With the premiere of “When I look at her” he faced criticism for the first time as a director. Does criticism stimulate you or bring you down?
Chávez: I’m not going to play the canchero at this point, but I’m going to tell you that I don’t read them because I’m very vulnerable. Ninety good reviews can come out but one bad one destroys me. What I do is ask people around me if there’s a review I should read, tell me. Of course I add that the bad ones don’t, I don’t care about the negative meaning (he laughs). The other day I finished doing a performance of “I am my own woman” that I would tell you was good and there was a little girl in the front row who didn’t applaud. Almost the entire room was standing up, that creature that did not applaud me was devastating for me. Who knows, maybe she didn’t like it, you have to have balls not to applaud because it’s clearly saying: “I want you to see something”, I saw her and was about to signal to her, but I didn’t let myself. The actors, the actresses, we work with our sensitivity and one of the issues that I do not want to lose is vulnerability. And I am vulnerable because I have decided not to stop being so.
by Leonardo Martinelli
