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Manuel Abramovich: I don't believe subjects are gendered like that. I don't feel there's movies for men directors and movies for women directors. In my case, I start my projects on a hunch, when I feel drawn to a particular story or character, even though I don't really know why or can't put it in words. I believe that it's after a while, most likely when the movie's finished, that I finally understand why I made it, what it was that caught my attention in the first place.In the case of La Reina, it is true that it is a very feminine universe. Although carnival culture and the traditions of Memi's town haven't much to do with my surroundings, [when I watched it] a few months later, I realized that, in some way, me and Memi were the same person. I strongly identified with her.The access Memi and her family allowed you is incredible. How did you find Memi and were there any issues in getting, maintaining, and ultimately finishing a film with this level of intimacy?
The Queen was sort of an impulse, it wasn't planned at all. I was traveling with a four-person crew to shoot an institutional documentary on that town ́s carnival, a monumental celebration where people parade wearing huge, lavish costumes decorated with feathers and gems. In the end, winners are chosen and queens are crowned.
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Yes, from the very first moment I felt the need to represent that big clash through the style: the grownup world versus Memi's experience. The contradiction between the adults' discourse and what Memi was going through. So I had the idea to counterpose image from sound. While we heard the grownups talking about how fantastic and marvelous the carnival is, the camera lingers still on Memi's gaze, who hardly ever speaks.Thus, her mother (mainly), but also her tennis instructor, her seamstress, her nanny, her aunt, her hairdresser, her grandmother, among others represent demanding voices of authority and appear as voice-overs while we see Memi's reaction in her blank stare.
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Once I finished the editing, almost one year after the shooting, I came back to Memi's town to visit her and to show it to her and her family. To my surprise, they were happy and proud. They recalled all the sacrifices they had made to continue their tradition and to help Memi become the queen of carnival. Memi was thrilled to be starring in my film and understood the short was just my version of things and not a reflection of what she had experienced.They understood that they were characters of a movie, based on a personal construction, and even sometimes exaggerated in order to work for the story I was interested in telling, to generate that mood of progressive tension."I'm not so cruel as in your film!" Memi's mom told me. In that moment, I understood one can't really judge other people's traditions from the outside. And that although the film has a critical tone, it's not an exposé nor does it try to spread an anti-carnival message. I believe ambiguities make different cultures complex in their traditions, and I find it difficult to judge as an outsider.
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I find it very important to watch the final cut with the person I'm working with and talk about their impressions. I also like to be upfront about what they are about to watch, it's always only a version, my version of themselves.My work walks the line between reality and fiction. I like to mold "real" subjects and situations in order to construct a possible story, the story I wish to tell. The kind of documentary filmmaking that makes me tick is the one related to the idea of portraiture.I like the rush of adrenaline you get from working with the "real," where everything can unexpectedly change course. I'm interested in creating a bond with my subject and build from that a sense of mutual trust that will make the film more meaningful.What are you working on now?
I'm finishing my first feature, Solar. It's about a 10-year-old boy who became a new age phenomenon in the 90s, a sort of child guru. Twenty years later, he decided to reprint his book, and I persuaded him to make a documentary about his story. After a year's shooting, he was unhappy with the pre-established roles of the movie and with my way of directing. He threatened to abandon the project unless we switched roles.In the end, the movie ended up being about my relationship with him during the shoot. Like a role-playing game in which the camera turned around and the director became the protagonist and the protagonist became the director. It was a very long and sometimes hard process. It meant a great personal learning experience for me, and fortunately we're both very happy with the result.Jeffrey Bowers is a tall mustached guy from Ohio who's seen too many weird movies. He currently lives in Brooklyn, working as the senior curator for Vimeo's On Demand platform. He has also programmed at Tribeca Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and the Hamptons International Film Festival.Learn more Manuel Abramovich and his work here.