La libertad / Carta para Serra

11 November, 2018 - 21:00
Cinematek, Brussels

An initiative of CINEMATEK, Cinea and Courtisane, in collaboration with the Embassy of Argentina in Brussels and Instituto Cervantes.

La libertad

Lisandro Alonso
,
AR
,
2001
,
35mm
,
colour
,
73'

“The first of Alonso’s protagonists is a tree cutter named Misael Saavedra. The film presents his cyclical and solitary life: he is depicted chopping wood with admirable skill, eating, sleeping (and dreaming), going to the village, selling the wood, and returning to cut down more trees. The title of the film (which translates as Freedom) has a certain oneiric implication, but the rock music in the opening titles and a final scene that reveals Misael to be an actor in a film (removed at the time of its Cannes premiere at the behest of the festival’s programmers) ensure that we don’t confuse the contemplative nature of La libertad with that of an anthropological documentary. Nothing could be further from Alonso’s mind than the social sciences, though watching Misael cutting wood is a fascinating cinematographic experience.” (Quintín)

 

Spanish spoken, French subtitles

Carta para Serra

Lisandro Alonso
,
AR
,
2011
,
colour
,
23'

“After the completion of his ‘Lonely Men Trilogy’, people started to say that Alonso should do something different. Jauja answers that request: it’s a film with an international star, features characters who speak in full sentences, and boasts a script (more or less) that Alonso worked on with the well-known Argentine poet and novelist Fabián Casas. A shift in this direction, however, could already be spotted in Carta para Serra, a short commissioned work that the director made for the CCCB in Barcelona in response to a ‘letter’ from Albert Serra, which ends with Casas appearing onscreen to read a text announcing that words have started to count in Alonso’s films.” (Quintín)

 

Spanish spoken, French subtitles