Cecilia Rota Y Dolores Fonzi they are mother and daughter in the film Set off, also directed by actor Ignacio Rogers. next to them are Daniel Hendler and Esteban Díaz, as children of a lineage that we could define as dysfunctional, even if it is not far from what happens in any local family.
In the story, Roth goes through a near-death experience and, after a long stay in the hospital, tries to rebuild the troubled relationship he has with his three children. To do this, he convinces them to spend the New Year’s party in his house in the middle of the countryside.
After reluctantly accepting the invitation, the children will see how, in a subtle way, the parent’s personality takes control of the reins again.
Both actresses were last November at the 37th Mar del Plata International Film Festival. Roth received a Lifetime Achievement Award from him and later traveled to Estonia to promote the film at the Tallinn Film Festival. talk about hate, directed by Vera Fogwill. While there she suffered a fall, broke her tailbone and is still suffering from nagging back pain. Fonzi, for his part, was part of the jury of the official competition of our spa town and is now dedicated to publishing blondehis first film as a director.
The conversation with them and the director takes place in a warm way, between laughter, filming of anecdotes and reflections on the difficult art of carrying out an independent project.
-Roth: We really wanted to work together again with my lifelong friends. With Dolo and with Echi (Ezequiel Díaz) we had achieved then the night, in the theater (in 2018, in Paseo La Plaza). When this story came up, Dolores called me and said, “Hey, we’ll give you a script and blah blah blah.” Well great, I loved it, I wanted to be with the boys again and it was all so great with Nacho who is a wonderful director.
-Fonzi: I had known about the project for a long time, and eventually the possibility of doing it started to be articulated, but we had never talked about me in the film. Suddenly there was a magical void, Echi called me and asked if he could do it. I knew the project very well and we went ahead. End of the year with friends, Nacho as director, everything has become very exciting.
-Roth: I remembered that we finished shooting a year ago, right around this time.
-Fonzi: We finished shooting on December 23, just before Christmas Eve.
-Why do these parties have a reputation for being complicated?
-Roth: Yes, so complicated and appreciated instead. I think there are also myths about parties. One thinks, how awful to have this and be around everyone, including those you don’t want to meet. On the other hand, there is a kind of tribal ceremony that comes from generation to generation and that we have incorporated. What will you do at the parties? You don’t always have fun, but you do.
-Fonzi: It’s like a ritual.
family ties
-Your character handles subtlety. We never see a loud or dramatic mother…
-Rot: As well as! I think deep down he doesn’t really realize that he’s manipulating them. He’s not very conscious, except for some things he does behind their backs, but I don’t want to screw that up. Suddenly she finds herself in some situations, even if they don’t want to … she wants to experience with her children what they experience. Be equal to equal. She is not a mother who feels very distant from the time of her children.
He was even quite careless in the past. There is a moment when her best friend, Muñeca (Maitina de Marco, mother of the director of the film), says to her: “I raised them for you”. María Paz is a mother who made her life what she wanted. There are some unspoken reproaches about this in the script. You never quite know what happened in the past.
-Fonzi: It’s kind of what happens in all families. There’s no specific reason, it’s an accumulation of little things, a misunderstanding, an argument that once happened and left something half-stuck and loaded with something else. There is so much intimacy in families that you can instantly love and hate each other, or yell at each other, like I do with my brother Sergio (Daniel Hendler) in the film.
-After all, family ties end up being stronger…
-Roth: That’s right, every sibling has a different and different relationship with their mother.
-In the plot, Hendler’s character seems to be the one who thinks about the future…
-Fonzi: And in the twine! (You smile)
-Roth: In what would touch him for the inheritance! (laughs)
-There is a naturalness in this inclusive family that is very welcome…
-Fonzi: Of course, it doesn’t go down the line. It’s inclusive because there’s a trans character, which is Maly (Díaz) and who, to me, is divine in the script. There is no solemnity in the dialogues. There isn’t a look that wants to accentuate the subject or take the flag, it just shows it. So it should be.
-Roth: That, there is no dropped line. I think the characters are much closer than they look and think they are. I think they love each other more than they think they love each other.
-Fonzi: It’s just that, deep down, your mother is your mother and you want to see her and be with her no matter what.
-Does life show that all is forgiven and correct?
-Rot: For this reason, dead or alive, the mother is eternal. There is a phrase by Donald Winnicott, an English pediatric psychoanalyst, who says: “The best mother is the one who wants to throw her children out the window and she doesn’t do it”. Babies produce many very different feelings.
What will come
-Cecilia, are you filming in Spain?
-Roth: yes the series The messiahin Barcelona, with “los javis”, Javi Ambrossi and Javi Calvo who are the directors of La Veneno (Cristina Ortíz, transsexual icon of the 90s).
-Fonzi: She is Messi (laughs)
-Roth: It is a thriller for Movistar in which there are wonderful actresses and actors such as Lola Dueñas, Carmen Machi, Rossy de Palma, Albert Pla and many others.
-Dolores, are you making your directorial debut with a project that Amazon Prime Video has already purchased?
-Fonzi: Yes, I am anxious, finishing the blend of blonde, my first film as a director. I estimate it would have come out in March or April. It is about a woman who became a mother at the age of 15 and her son.
-Roth: Direct and act! (laughs)
-Fonzi: I wrote the screenplay for this play with Laura Paredes. It takes place in the present, Blondi is 40, but she is more immature than Mirko at 25. They are roommates, they smoke faso, they go to concerts, they have the same friends. That almost perfect relationship of friends ends because he has to go and rebuild his life.
Women engaged in social reality
-Both are recognized for being very committed to the fight for women’s rights. What do you think about what is happening in Iran?
-Fonzi: It’s terrible! There is the death penalty for those who speak out in favor of women’s rights, as happened with the Iranian footballer. It’s almost impossible to conceive it to be something so retarded…
-Roth: Horrible! It has been installed forever. It is the same today as it was a thousand years ago.
-Fonzi: The morality police, the girl they killed, the women who cut their hair. I feel something starting to manifest, but they keep killing people.
-In the West, powerful producer Harvey Weinstein could spend the rest of his days in prison…
-Roth: He deserves it!
-Fonzi: Oh!
-Have you signed the application for the low participation of women in the 2023 programming of the CTBA?
-Roth: I don’t know, I didn’t even know. are our names?
-Fonzi: That’s where they asked you in a group of Argentine actresses…
-Rot: It could be. The CTBA should work much more actively, as before. I don’t see any avant-garde activity, except for the Marull. Suddenly there’s cool stuff, but it seems to me that a site that has the best devices to work with should do more things. I don’t know what the budget allocated by the Municipality is, the truth is that I don’t know the figure. It would be nice if things were always done in San Martín.
-How did you experience the World Cup?
-Roth: With passion, commitment to results…
-Fonzi: so excited! I want to meet Messi and all the players!
The word to the director
The face of director Ignacio Rogers reflects anticipation and effort in equal doses. His debut was in 2019, with the white devil, in which he told a dark legend about blood rituals at the time of the Spanish colonization. It was a tiring day, with several interviews concentrated in the same afternoon. Despite the tiredness, you find the time to tell, briefly, what the experience of shooting your second feature film was like.
-What was it like directing these two actresses with so much film background?
-Rogers: It was wonderful. When you’re directing someone with a very long career, there’s always a little bit of nervousness, fear, doubt. The truth is that I managed to manage myself with a lot of intuition, perhaps because I’m also an actor, in choosing actors. I knew that Cecilia could play her character very well and she gave herself a lot while she was doing it. She allowed me to direct it in total freedom and the shooting was very pleasant.
The same thing happened with Dolores. Everyone gave themselves to directing and many rehearsals were made, especially to articulate family ties.
-What expectations do you have on the public’s reaction?
-Rogers: My hope is that people connect with the film and feel identified with it. What ends up being worth the cinema is that intimate experience with the viewer and I hope they connect with the characters. That mother is a kind of Frankenstein who has the characteristics of many of our relatives.
-Projects?
-Rogers: There’s one I wrote with Santiago Miter that I hope to film soon.
This Thursday, January 5, the film written collectively by the aforementioned Rogers, together with Díaz and the actors Julieta Zylberberg, Esteban Lamothe and the screenwriter and playwright Alberto Rojas Apel will be released in theaters.
POS
Source: Clarin
