"Extraño" of Santiago Loza

Argentinian film (2003) - Duration: 1h 27mn.

Go back to exit: July 23, 2003 in France - November 11, 2004 in Argentina

With Julio Chavez, Valeria Bertucelli, Chunchuna Villafane, Raquel Albéniz


Before even its exit, this film received a price in Amsterdam and has just received the Price of the Press to the international Meetings of cinema in Paris, July 2003.


Santiago Loza was formed in Argentina in Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales. It A realizes documentary and short films of fiction, while regulating settings in scene of theatre.

It leaves its first Extrano full-length film in 2003 and is selected the same year to spend six months to Paris. S. Loza currently finishes its second full-length film "4 mujeres descalzas" within the framework of Cinéfondation of the Festival of Cannes.


Synopsis:

Without work, Axel, ex considered surgeon, saunter among the beings and the things. II in this to and from a certain conscience of a completed time has there. One day, it meets a pregnant girl, Erika, very solitary, whose friend with whom she lived has just committed suicide. Between them creates for itself a relation of sympathy, something which approaches the love. Film of words and timid gestures, made fragile silences, this work intimist captures the state of the things which surround us. From their respective loneliness will be born a timid relation, fragile, near to the love.

The realizer Santiago Loza called concerning the title of its film: "Extraño, in Spanish means, like substantive, ' foreign à' or ' indifferent à', the verb ' extrañar' meaning ' to regret what one abandonne'. The character of film lives in the regret without having to remember concrete the things. He does not remember, has neither last nor future ".



Discussion with Santiago Loza (by Benoit Sauvé 05/07/03):


Under which material conditions and which context this film was carried out?

Ca was difficult on several levels, and not only from the economic point of view. Of course, the situation was then very delicate in Argentina, since one started to turn when the crisis arrived, at the end of the year 2001. The first day of turning took place besides on September 11, 2001! We felt whereas the events to New York were going to have apocaliptic consequences.
Times which arrived annoncaient really obscure: one thought has a war!

Then, during the three months of turning, the country fell into the economic crisis. The conditions of turning were thus very precarious. We were posed the question:Peut one to make a film centered on things intimate, whereas outside, the people express to eat?" All that made us feel guilty a little. We wanted to leave and film what occurred outside... But with the passing, I think that we were right to continue the preliminary draft: what occurred outside was shown so much... It was enough to take its camera and to record!


For Extraño, you indeed rather chose to explore interior territories...

It is not a question of a realistic film. In an underground way, it reflects all the same what occurred to Argentina. While being interested in the roots of the situation... In a certain manner, I wanted to recall the difficulty that tests each individual to withstand the pressure of a system or a civilization. The human heart is too fragile vis-a-vis with that! It is a subject which could more largely fit in all the countries, even those which enjoy a certain comfort. But it is more obvious in the countries which know problems, as in Latin America. ' Extrano means ' Spanish étranger', each one can feel a little foreign vis-a-vis with the system... At the same time, Spanish gives another direction to this word. He returns then to nostalgia, with the regret.


The topic of time is indeed in the heart of film...

The characters of my film regret a time spent, future or which does not perhaps even exist... The dialogues and the characters often return to a space former, suitable for maternity. This idea is very present in film, in particular through the character of pregnant woman. That represents a possibility of revival which counterbalances the nostalgia of film. They are things difficult to express with words. To find a tone exact also formed part of the constraints of production. I tried to make cohabit the light and the shade, the life and death... By maintaining a dialogue permanent between these topics. Of final, I think that it acts of a very simple film. Perhaps even a little obsolete. In any case, it touches subjects which any more are not very often examined.


How was the choice of Julio Chavez for the principal role carried out?

I wrote the scenario while thinking of him. I could not have made this film if Julio Chavez had not accepted the role. By reading the scenario, it initially thought that it would be difficult for him. Its character has very few dialogues... They are especially the movements of its heart which it was a question of interpreting.


How are you located compared to the scenario writers of the New Argentinian Wave?

I come rather from the literature. I am more a film enthusiast a scenario writer. I initially worked in several film clubs, before launching me in the theatre. When I arrived to Buenos Aires (note: Santiago Loza is originating in the town of Cordoba), I did not have any contact in the cinema. I do not have thus truly the feeling to form part of a group. However, since Extraño, one often attaches me to the New Argentinian Wave. That disconcerts me. The age is the only common factor between us. Contrary to the New French Wave or the Italian neorealism, there is no true ideology being able to gather us. If one can say that there is a new Argentinian cinema, it is above all related to the fact that we are all young people who were educated during the period of the dictatorship. And the end of this dictatorship proved that there were different manners to make cinema in Argentina.