The filmmaker draws on her family legacy to bring the forgotten Cuarteto Aguilar back to the cultural spotlight, to narrate the truths postponed in the transition from the Republic to the dictatorship and to propose an original and indefinable docufiction
Aguilar stands by her opinion that “films talking about politics don’t have to be tedious.”
The filmmaker, descendant of the exiled musicians, offers the audience a family tale full of historical truths, which competes in the feature film section of Canarias Cinema, and that has been produced by Tourmalet Films
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Friday, April 14, 2023.- Tararira: la bohemia de hoy by Benjamín Fondane (1936) is the only Argentinean surrealist film. Or so it was supposed, at least, because the film was never released and its mere mention evoked a halo of legend. Until the Aguilar brothers find in their own family the soundtrack of the film, which features their ancestors, the Aguilar Quartet. Lute musicians, exiled from a Spain in the midst of civil war, whose memory and contexts are portrayed in Defect, by Argentine filmmaker Amparo Aguilar. A title produced by the Gran-Canarian Tourmalet Films and the Argentinean Ah! Films that now competes in the feature film section of Canarias Cinema.
Defect is a film that adopts a surrealist tone and approaches a tense period of the Spanish history with freshness, light-heartedness and even humor. From the other side of the Atlantic, Aguilar admits that “indeed, myintention when narrating the story of part of my family had that sort of humorous approach. Something of plebeian or even South American. You look at the story with the feeling that you have to do something different, but at the same time you have to offer it to the audience from an enjoyable place, so they can go to the theater and have a good time.”
Her film was born, as a project, when the Aguilar family rescued an unusual musical score. “The most important thing that made this film start was that we found the soundtrack of Tararira, with the exiled Spanish musicians. Because, until then, it was just a myth,” recalls the filmmaker. “The next thing,” she continues, “was to find the tone, since making a more serious and formal film wasn’t something I was interested in. What could we do to avoid making just a tribute? I wanted the film to be mine, to be personal as well.”
Aguilar succeeded to such an extent that it is difficult to foreshadow it before entering the theater. The company approached it in a playful spirit, because “an hour and a half is a lot of time, in today’s world, and you have to make people go to the movies and have a good time. In this world of TikTok, that’s the way it is,” says the director of an original title right from the outset.
Aguilar starts from a small and intimate family story to tackle a much more complex and conflictive episode such as the violent transition from the Republic to the dictatorship in Spain. And to bring its consequences back to a closer and more personal level. “The Aguilar Quartet was banned during the dictatorship,” she recalls, “and left an important musical legacy, making very significant contributions.”
The shooting of Defect was not easy, “because we were in a pandemic. But at the same time it was a very difficult and beautiful experience”, Aguilar points out, “because we shot in Madrid, Santander and Girona, and it was like going back to my roots.” But she emphasizes that from the memory of that quartet of lute players she has been able to determine “the elements with which we can build our common history.”
Produced by the Canarian Tourmalet Films and the Argentinian Ah! Cine, the film includes a significant contribution: the fresh and uncomplicated voice of its director when dealing with a subject such as the Spanish Civil War, which is endlessly approached from different points of view. And she does it from her condition as an Argentinean. “These people come to Argentina because fascism wins in Spain and they find a Latin America where there are dictatorships,” she points out. “The fact that young people from here can think this way about history has to do with the fact that we are from here. Because normally we think that they only come to teach us, but suddenly Argentina has something to tell: that dictators must be condemned, the dead must be found, they must be buried, and that something different must be done, always from the active construction of memory. We have to Franco’s regime for what it was, a dictatorship, and we can tell it from here as such.”
How was your film received in your own family? Well, “in families there is always someone who has something to correct within the film,” Aguilar admits. “And I find that very nice. I, for instance, am a woman, South American, and I don’t look at the world in the same way as the director of the film Tararira. Because you have to assume that whoever looks is inevitably going to modify the story. And yes, this is my interpretation. But the fact that we can defend the idea that the film is what it is depending on who is watching is what allows us to continue celebrating family barbecues.”
The analysis that the filmmaker proposes about the conflict in Spain also highlights what the transition to dictatorship meant for Spanish women. “That’s very incredible: during the Republic, how many years before the rest of the world, Spanish women could study, work, be civil servants?”, stresses Aguilar. “Our search was always set on where women and children were. Women who were in a situation of having everything and, nevertheless, continued to hold on to life afterwards.”
The Argentinean filmmaker is excited about the selection of her film at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. “For me,” she says, “this film is like an artifact: a rare film, it’s harder for people to imagine it before being in the theater. I think it’s wonderful that festivals, beyond the awards, allow for the film to be seen. I am very grateful.”
In addition, she declares herself a fan of the film presented by her producer, Omar Razzak, in the same section of the contest, Canarias Cinema. “The first thing I have to say,” she remarks, “is that I loved Killing Crabs (the film directed by Razzak)”. But that doesn’t stop her from defending her particular vision of the story she tells in Defect. “Films that talk about politics don’t have to be tedious,” she concludes.
DEFECT
“A documentary about the Aguilar Quartet unique in its form and content. Past and present blended into one.” Luna Frax, 22FICLPGC programmer
SCREENINGS
DATE – TIME – SESSION – SCREEN
15 APRIL 10:00-11:20 JURY AND PUBLIC – CINESA EL MUELLE SCREEN 9
15 APRIL 20:15-21:45 Q&A | OMAR RAZZAK – CINESA EL MUELLE SCREEN 9
22 APRIL 12:15-13:30 LAST SCREENING – CINESA EL MUELLE SCREEN 8
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