“I BELIEVE IN THE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE”

MEXICAN FILM DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER, PRODUCER, AND EDITOR ALFONSO CUARÓN IS BEST KNOWN FOR A LITTLE PRINCESS, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, CHILDREN OF MEN, AND GRAVITY. HE IS THE FIRST LATINO AND MEXICAN DIRECTOR TO WIN AN ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR. WE INTERVIEWED THE MASTER FILMMAKER FOR SKYLIFE BUSINESS READERS.

Your last film Roma has been released by Netflix. Netflix has changed the way that movies are being released. From a filmmaker’s perspective, what is your idea of how a movie should be released, how would you like it to be released?

I am a big believer in the theatrical experience. Particularly for the kind of films that I do, I think you can get the full experience in a cinema. By the way, there is a great diversity of films. And let’s be honest here, we all receive screeners, and we know that there are some films that we save and say, “We are going to see this in a theater.” And there are others that you say, “I can see it on my screen.” That’s not because it’s better or worse, it’s just that some films require a different experience. Now I believe in the theatrical experience, but I think that experience is very much compatible with the home experience. Those things should not be at odds, and should be compatible. So, everybody is talking about theatrical or not theatrical. But what is more important than such a conversation -and what excites me- is what is happening with cinema these days with all these options, with diversity. We are coming back to a period of diversity, in which this place in the Four Seasons is interested in discussing a Mexican film in black-and-white and in Spanish. And by the same token, you see a lot of films from different countries being supported and being released. I think what really moves cinema forward is diversity.

What is the meaning of the title Roma?

Roma is the name of the neighborhood where it takes place. It’s a neighborhood, it’s Colonia Roma, in Mexico City.

How cathartic was it for you to make this film?

I was very unaware how cathartic it was going to be because first you go into a creative process. After the creative process of writing the screenplay, it becomes very much about putting it together, finding the locations, the actors, the details, the right costumes, the right cars, etc. Your head is so busy with logistics. And it was not until maybe two or three weeks into the shoot, where everything started to settle, the locations were there, that I became aware of what I was doing, and it became freaky from then on to say the least. I was revisiting my past with people who look like my family, in the same place, with the same furniture, and recreating scenes, a lot of which were very painful. So, it was complex.

You said that what is going on in the movie industry is like a breath of fresh air. And, on the other end, I think your movie was like a breath of fresh air because what we see around is not what movies used to be or are supposed to be. I was just wondering, as a filmmaker, how difficult is it for you to come back and make a film that is a real film about something and that is beautiful to watch?

I think it’s clearly why it took so long in my life to get to this point. I am saying “for me” because some other filmmakers are free from early stages. But for me, I have to release a lot of fears in order to do exactly what you are talking about. And those fears are not technical, they are more about freeing yourself from the safety nets. If you are going to do something with absolute honesty, you have to be willing, but completely 100 percent willing to fail. In my other films, I always had certain safety nets, maybe genre or narrative, a support of a package of actors, something that you feel is protecting you. And here is a jump into the void, because I also didn’t know how to make this film. It was combined with the cathartic thing which we were talking about, it was jumping into the abyss. And I guess that is the only way you can find knowledge, by jumping into the abyss and being willing to go there. But, yes, it was difficult. My experience, I have been stubborn, and I admire all these young filmmakers that get it from the get-go. And then they decided to be fearless from the get-go.

When you are doing your composition on screen and on camera, is there a lot of intellectual thought behind every image or is it more of a spontaneous process for you?

It’s a double thing, a thematic and an emotional kind of connection. I would not give an answer about what the stuff that is in the film means. Because it should mean different things to different people.

Can you please talk about the experience of being a successful and respected Mexican in the U.S. in 2018?

Yes, I am immigrant, but I cannot compare my experience as an immigrant to brothers and sisters from the rest of the world who experienced the hardness of immigration. But it’s about this whole thing of social bias, how some things are accepted, and some immigrants are accepted, and some are not. So, what is my experience now hasn’t changed much because I have certain recognition. But it would be difficult to universalize my experience to the experience of how immigrants are dealt with. There are good people and bad people, and it’s the same in any place, my country, the United States, Italy, and Europe; there’re going to be amazing people and there’re going to be a handful of inconsiderate people.

Julian Schnabel said he is a big fan of yours.

I am a big fan of Julian.

He once said, “I am my films.” Do you feel the same way about yourself, or do you identify with some films more than others?

I hope to be something more than just my films. But of the films I have done, I have to say, I cannot do a film if it’s not personal. And I recently talked to Guillermo del Toro who was talking about how in all my films, even the ones that have very silly premises he said, I am there, I am putting all my passion and imagination there. And there are definitely films that are closer to me for whichever reasons. I can say A Little Princess, for instance, is a film that is very close to me. And I think it really talks about a part of my existence. Roma definitely cannot be closer to me for having reproduced the space where I grew up and having my family there. But in Children of Men, I really wanted to understand this 21st century. It’s just scary that it was just a premise and now it’s happening. And even Gravity was about adversities and a moment in my life that I was going through endless adversities. But I would say A Little Princess and Roma.