Jose here. Alias Maria takes place deep inside the Colombian jungle, where we meet a group of guerrillas, many of which are children. One of them is Maria (Karen Torres), a young woman who despite her obedience to their leaders questions their double standards, she wonders why women aren’t allowed privileges men are, especially when it comes to choices over their bodies. Then one day Maria is given a task that tests her loyalty and sends her deep into the unknown. The film, which introduces audiences to a world they know merely through the news, premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it was greeted warmly. Since then, the film has attained more relevance as Colombians rejected a peace deal with the FARC over the fall. The film was selected as Colombia’s submission for the Oscars, and I spoke to director José Luis Rugeles about the casting methods he used, the pros and cons of shooting in the jungle, and introducing film to potential new artists.
Read the interview after the jump.
JOSE: You found the actors in the very same places where guerrillas go to capture child soldiers. What methods did you use to find the actors?
JOSE LUIS RUGELES: I worked with casting directors Manuel Orjuela and Carlos Medina both of whom I’ve worked with before. We needed children who looked a specific way, I also wanted to cast in this area because they needed to know the jungle well. With the help of some NGOs we went to high schools and did theatre workshops, we didn’t want to tell them we were casting a film to avoid getting their hopes up. Eventually we taught them how to work with cameras, and got into some interview work. Then I saw Karen and knew she was who I was looking for. Once we found the actors I never shared the screenplay with them, instead I told them the plot, and gave them notebooks so they would write down their feelings about each scene. So by the end of the film each of the actors had their own version of the screenplay, I didn’t want the actors to lose their freshness.
JOSE: So you might’ve introduced the people in these towns to theatre and film. We might be looking at future artists that wouldn’t have had this opportunity otherwise.
JOSE LUIS RUGELES: Yes, they’re practicing emotional memory without knowing about it. Karen already had offers to work in television, but she wants to finish high school before entering this crazy world.
The director in CannesWhat were some of the challenges of shooting in the jungle?
We had an orange alert for dengue fever, so we started our days by bathing in bug spray. We were in the Magdalena Medio, which had a red alert, and this place brought challenges for the camera. We were going to use Steadicam but it felt too sterile, camera in hand felt too messy, and then I found the Movi which helped the DP’s humanity come across without being too shaky. We had to travel 90 minutes to the location, sometimes we walked, rode horses or drove tractors. We were always carrying equipment which made us become a team, every day was intense. We ate together and some people sang, it was great. Coming back at night, the landscape was beautiful, the jungle showed us its changing sounds, we were thankful for the overall experience, even if once it rained so much half the road disappeared (laughs).
Many people know about the guerrilla and child soldiers, but many others will learn about it through your film. How do you balance the right tone for a film that will be educational, but that also needs to be cinematic?
We interviewed many people, including former soldiers to prepare, we knew people in Colombia and all over the world read about the guerrilla but it’s often false information. I did an exercise with my mom, I asked her how she felt when they captured 30 guerrillas and she said “I feel safer”. So I continued, “what if I told you one of them is 15-year-old Carlos, he’s the cook and he always makes sure Maria and Claudia get a little more food on her plate, Maria wants to be a nurse after this is over, Claudia is very shy, but a lovely girl...”, then my mom said she would hurt if she knew their stories. We wanted our film to show their humanity, not all guerrillas are good people, but they have souls, and their lives matter. I’ve seen films where 50 people die and you just walk out as if nothing in the end, we wanted each death in our film to hurt.
Colombians voted against the peace agreement with the FARC. Has that changed the way the film is perceived or how people react to it?
With the Oscar race we’ve been a bit away from what’s going on in Colombia. I had a week-long moral hangover after those results. There will be a renegotiation in order to make a peace agreement that will please all Colombians, and I feel the film will help create a positive image of people on the other side. The people who we believe are murderers, sometimes are just victims themselves.
