‘People are interested in demonization’

Anahí Berneri’s perspective is unique in the world of our stories. Her last film, Elena Knows, is a thriller allegory about motherhood and parenthood. Her work is therefore as important in retrospect as any other: Alanis won her the Golden Shell for director of San Sebastian, Por tu culpa, Tiempo libre, among others, works that leave a deep impression in reflection that few creators can do. In our country: an exploration of growth, moments, emotional bonds and the responsibility they represent (before romance) (and how paradoxically, responsibility is more important than romance). Now he is back in the theater with a work based on a story by Alejandra Kamiya and playwrights Javier Berdichesky and Andrés Galllina – the word is short, perhaps drowned. The work can be seen at Dumont 4040, where what is lost will be preserved forever, but she admits before collaborating with Sofía Gala, Marita Ballesteros, Enrique Amido and Camila Marino Alfonsín: “I have already done theater and it always makes me want to come back. I acted in a play by Santiago Loza, and when my children were young, I wrote and directed children’s plays. I studied theater throughout my adolescence. I love theater, it attracts me. This is a project that I have already done before Elena knew it, and for me it is the same thing, the parents of the mother. This is a project that I am involved in together with Alejandra Kamiya, with Andrés Gallina and Javier Berdicheski. Berdichesky, because I felt I was not ready for the drama of such a work. “He added: “For me, theater presents a very big challenge, and this word is not there with film. Although this word is important, it is not central. Film is the image and capture of time, it is about things in time, depicting changes, emotions, the passage of time and so on. In theater, on the other hand, the text is dominant, which is why theater exists as a genre, while the script is not a genre, or is a genre that few people read. This year I have some projects to shoot that will be attached to the work, and the time and space that are open can do this well, for reasons we all know, just like the non-existent Inca civilization. “He concluded: “I wanted to achieve this goal before I wanted to make a film, a play, but the times, the platform and life took me to another place. Focus on something in the performance, something more important, something more primary. “

——After your journey through the film, what do you think you have discovered in the work?

—For me, theatrical conventions seem very liberating, because I show you a handkerchief and say it’s a baby, it’s a baby. Point. That’s freedom. You generate an interesting universe without building it. If I say someone hangs himself, you already understand, you don’t need to build a production of a bell tower for someone to hang himself. Is it easy? No. And the conventions: I feel that theatre is an agreement with the audience, whether it works or not. That’s the game, the dose. There’s something beautiful about theatre, that gives you a little bit of operatic feeling. Every performance is different, as a director you have to lose control, the theatre belongs to the actors. But choreography is possible. In the film, I am also responsible for marking the choreography from the outside in, especially with the camera.

– What makes you interested in continuing to tell the story of “motherly parents”, as you said?

—That’s the last thing, I swear. Yes, what we said, what they brought to my attention, I was very concerned with the issue of care and attachment, and on the other hand, I could say that reading Camilla was the theme of her literature. That’s why it resonates with me. I think I will continue to think about gender roles, because that’s what I had since I was a child. It doesn’t mean that I’m going to talk about motherhood or caring parents, but about loving relationships. I need something to think about citizens’ attitudes towards others, empathy, attachment. If I continue in this line of work, I feel that Alejandra Camilla has a lot more to explore. I never know what’s next.

—Unlike “Elena Sabe”, here there is something that blends everyday life with a very dynamic staging. Because?

—We are in the Dumont 4040 Theater, but in all theaters they will tell you the same thing: little storage space, little place to put things. I had thought about a set design… but the ideal of the self always appeared, ever since I read the work, a very Japanese house. The first thing I saw was the pop-up book, with some small story that was unfolding. Objects have a certain versatility. The set design as a background bothers me. A little to stimulate the audience’s imagination. I also like the idea that we all live in a house, but we live in different compartments, sometimes we see each other, sometimes we don’t. The house is now multifunctional. Collaboration with Lucas Oteda. Playing with this concept of emptiness was a challenge for both of us. We sat together to read the script, and I went to the first rehearsal with the proposal, thinking about the set design, which took a while to arrive.

——How was the collaboration with the actors?

— is something else, something deeper. Theater is wonderful for me, and what cinema does not allow is composition. Cinema is casting, it’s looking for the ring on the finger. In theater, Sofia, I’ve never seen her play a role that obeys her parents, she’s more rebellious, more punk. Here, he does a lot of work, which leaves his comfort zone, and we have fun doing it. Marita Ballesteros created a whole piece. There was no time to rehearse for the film. It’s another job, you can think about it again.

—What do you think of the theater in Argentina?

— What is happening in the Argentine theater is incredible. To be calm, we are at the level of London in terms of the number, variety and genre of proposals, because it spreads around the world, as much as cinema, or even more. We are at a crisis point, 5 shows are sold out. I think it has to do with the lack of fiction in television and cinema. The audience does want to be told about their things and about actors they know. It’s sociological, for me, the Argentine audience wants to see Argentine fiction. What hurts me about cinema is its demonization and the sheer volume of lies. On the pages of Incaa it is written something like “defending the consumer”, but in reality there is no page at all. We are like thieves. Since 2015, Incaa has no work, not all of us can produce, the industry does not prosper, we shut up because the platforms give us work. The subsidies that were given are blown up, they don’t work, the screen quotas are no longer given, there are no orders, there is no cultural policy. It’s a political demagoguery that is so lacking in control that no one will say anything.

Those who submit a script to the agency are rarely rejected: it is necessary to understand that it can be made, that there is room for debut films, blockbusters, niche films, etc. Today some say that you can only make one film for one person and then move on to another project in Inca, this does not exist, it is an attack on the industry.

There is a lot of ignorance and interest in demonizing and thinking “these sleazy progressives.”