Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and
Speaker 1: Kurturre Latino US. Latino USA, I'm Maria in no Josa.
Speaker 1: We bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered
Speaker 1: to you, overlooked by the rest of the media, and
Speaker 1: while the country is struggling to deal with these, we
Speaker 1: listen to the stories of Black and Latino Studio United
Speaker 1: Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of
Speaker 1: the movement. I'm Maria Ino Josa, Noaan.
Speaker 2: I think we have a long way to go, but
Speaker 2: there are green shoots and the Latino community specifically has
Speaker 2: a lot of energy and community building that will pay
Speaker 2: dividends in the long run.
Speaker 1: From Futro Media and PRX, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria
Speaker 1: no Rosa. Today a number of Latinos and Latinas and
Speaker 1: folks from Latin America have been nominated for Oscars. So
Speaker 1: what does this all mean about the state of Hollywood
Speaker 1: and Latino storytelling. In a few days, the Academy of
Speaker 1: Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold its ninety six
Speaker 1: Oscars ceremony. It's a new opportunity for many in the
Speaker 1: movie making business to be recognized for Excellence in Cinema,
Speaker 1: and yet another year in which, unfortunately, representation from Latinos
Speaker 1: and Latinas Latine and LATINX on the big screen has
Speaker 1: remained somewhat stagnant. Just five point five percent of speaking
Speaker 1: characters in Hollywood movies are Latino or Latina. This despite
Speaker 1: the fact that Latinos make up nineteen percent of the
Speaker 1: US population and have a buying power of three point
Speaker 1: four trillion dollars, and Latinos by lots and lots of
Speaker 1: movie tickets. This year, America Ferrera has earned her first
Speaker 1: OSCAR nomination for her supporting role in the movie Barbie.
Speaker 3: I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single
Speaker 3: other woman tie herself into knots so that people will.
Speaker 1: Like us and that Coleman Domingo has become the first
Speaker 1: Afro Latino nominated for Best Actor for his performance as
Speaker 1: civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. We are going to.
Speaker 4: Put together the largest peaceful protests.
Speaker 1: Made up of angelic troublemakers such as yourself. But there
Speaker 1: are several other Latinos and Latin Americans in different roles
Speaker 1: in OSCAR nominated films who you might not have heard
Speaker 1: about yet. We're gonna speak with some of them today.
Speaker 1: We'll hear from Mike de Alberti, whose film The Eternal
Speaker 1: Memory is nominated for Best Documentary Feature about Alzheimer's will
Speaker 1: also here from producer and writer Phil Lord, nominated for
Speaker 1: Spider Man Across the Spider Verse. But we're going to
Speaker 1: start with the movie Society of the Snow, nominated for
Speaker 1: Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category and Best
Speaker 1: Makeup and Hairstyling. I had a conversation recently with Roberto Ganesa,
Speaker 1: one of the survivors of the nineteen seventy two plane
Speaker 1: crash Indianes, on which the movie is based. We also
Speaker 1: spoke with Mattias Recalde, who is the young actor who
Speaker 1: plays him in the film. Roberto Kansa, the survivor, is
Speaker 1: a cardiologist now in his native Uru Why and that's
Speaker 1: where he joined me for this conversation. Roberto, So, a
Speaker 1: lot of people now will only know you as Roberto
Speaker 1: from the plane crash when you were in your twenties.
Speaker 1: You are how old now, Antolo risperto seventy one? And frankly,
Speaker 1: you look amazing.
Speaker 5: Roberto.
Speaker 1: I just have to say you, you look amazing.
Speaker 6: But you lied to me. You said you were twenty
Speaker 6: five and you look twenty seven.
Speaker 1: May well, now that we've brought up age, right, what
Speaker 1: I want to tell you is that most people will
Speaker 1: not know now that you have become a very well
Speaker 1: established medical doctor in uru way, and that this is
Speaker 1: what you did with your life. Your life went way
Speaker 1: beyond what happened in the Andes in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: So congratulations on a great career and on giving back
Speaker 1: in this way. I was, I guess eleven years old
Speaker 1: when the plane crashed, and so I was watching on
Speaker 1: television in Chicago in my parents' apartment, and we were
Speaker 1: watching the footage of what was happening, a.
Speaker 7: Film of what very nearly amounts to a real miracle,
Speaker 7: survivors of a plane crash and the Chilean Andes. The
Speaker 7: plane went down ten weeks ago. The forty five people
Speaker 7: aboard were given up for death.
Speaker 1: We knew the story, and that's why I just want
Speaker 1: to say, in particular, it means a lot to be
Speaker 1: talking with you.
Speaker 6: Oh, I got emotional. I am like a legend. I
Speaker 6: am like a walking bronze statue. It's very funny because
Speaker 6: it happens how people look to me and then my
Speaker 6: every day life. Thanks God, I don't buy all this popularity.
Speaker 1: If you can just tell me, like what it was like.
Speaker 1: If you go back to nineteen seventy two, disco music
Speaker 1: was happening, right, you were happy, excited, and you're getting
Speaker 1: ready to board the plane. So what did your life
Speaker 1: look like?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 6: I was a medical student and second year a medical
Speaker 6: student and playing rugby. I had made it the previous
Speaker 6: year to the national team, which I was very proud of,
Speaker 6: and we had done the trip one year before to Chile,
Speaker 6: so everything was fun.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody focuses on what happens in the movie, right,
Speaker 1: this extraordinary period of about seventy days, But you have
Speaker 1: this other life. I mean, did you do a lot
Speaker 1: of therapy?
Speaker 6: No? No, no, no. I mean when I came out
Speaker 6: of the Andes, was that you had an elephant sitting
Speaker 6: on my shoulders? Yeah? I was so happy, so happy
Speaker 6: did I and I walked out to the Andes to
Speaker 6: go to my life now to have an interview fIF
Speaker 6: years later in Latino with Maria so And when I
Speaker 6: was back at home, I saw people who were suffering
Speaker 6: lots more, the parents of my friends that had died.
Speaker 6: They wanted to talk to me. They wanted to know
Speaker 6: what did they say? What happened? I mean, they didn't
Speaker 6: care about the way we had to survive. They care
Speaker 6: about what their sons were saying. And the rugby team
Speaker 6: was completely distorted and we had to rebuild a team,
Speaker 6: and the coach said, we'll need five years to get
Speaker 6: the team running again. And on that year we became champions.
Speaker 6: And the father of ar two real Nogaia that died
Speaker 6: on the plane crash, hugged me and told me, my
Speaker 6: son is not here, but you are here. So he
Speaker 6: gave me a very strong responsibility and support. And I
Speaker 6: had to go to the faculty of medicine, and if
Speaker 6: I didn't study, I didn't get up with my exams,
Speaker 6: and I had my girlfriend, so I didn't have any
Speaker 6: time for the psychiatry to sit there and asking how
Speaker 6: I feel, How I do it? I mean, I am
Speaker 6: very kinetic and I like achieving things.
Speaker 1: What exactly do you mean by kinetic? And what do
Speaker 1: you think that the fact that you were kinetic has
Speaker 1: to do with the fact that you survived.
Speaker 6: My mother says that when I was in the cradle,
Speaker 6: I was moving my hands all the time, so and
Speaker 6: I wanted to go back. I didn't want my mother
Speaker 6: to cry for that son. So I want to tell
Speaker 6: her I don't cry anymore. I'm alive. And it was
Speaker 6: my driving force.
Speaker 1: So would you say that this thing that you survived
Speaker 1: fifty years ago, you don't spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: thinking about it now or do you now? Because of
Speaker 1: the movie, all of this has come back in the
Speaker 1: last five years in the making of And how has
Speaker 1: that been for you or was it always with you?
Speaker 6: Yes, it's with me, but I don't want to contaminate
Speaker 6: my life with all the time deandes. But nowadays with
Speaker 6: the film, and I see all the people so enthusiastic.
Speaker 6: The other day, it was in Miami and a teenager
Speaker 6: came around and she couldn't speak and say, are you Roberto?
Speaker 6: I cannot believe it's you. She was from Colombia. There's
Speaker 6: a lot of young people with a philosophy of the mountain,
Speaker 6: and I think that's a very good contribution to life.
Speaker 6: And that's the reason why I think that this film
Speaker 6: should get the OSCAR, because it's changing people's life. Besides
Speaker 6: being a film, it's all a contribution to be a
Speaker 6: better person for people.
Speaker 1: It is that film that's just like wow, somehow you
Speaker 1: can't survive anything the power of the human body and spirit.
Speaker 1: So I think you're right. It is a film that
Speaker 1: says just never, never give up, and that isn't truly
Speaker 1: a powerful message.
Speaker 6: It's a contribution to humans behavior. I think we should
Speaker 6: treasure it and should get around.
Speaker 1: So what was it like for you, Roberto to see
Speaker 1: the film?
Speaker 6: Well, I thought, well, this is quite different than what
Speaker 6: happened in the mountains. And then I thought, but this
Speaker 6: is not a documentary, it's a film. And when I
Speaker 6: told the director, he said, Roberto, if we show what
Speaker 6: you went through.
Speaker 5: People live the movie.
Speaker 6: I want to have a movie that people will enjoy
Speaker 6: seeing the movie and they have a movie experience, not
Speaker 6: a torture. And this is the masterpiece of how he
Speaker 6: did the things to make it artistic. The spirit is there,
Speaker 6: the spirit we get. I get emotional when I see
Speaker 6: the movie. Then I have always tears pouring through my
Speaker 6: eyes when I think when I see how how God
Speaker 6: has been to me that has led us achieve what
Speaker 6: we achieve.
Speaker 1: No, you're crying. We were saying we were not going
Speaker 1: to get emotional in this conversation.
Speaker 6: But come on, when you see those helicopters flying over there,
Speaker 6: over the guys, and we were left with Nando walking
Speaker 6: maybe to die walking, and then we sell them to gorgeous,
Speaker 6: sexy helicopters to get them. I mean, if that's not
Speaker 6: the try off of human spirit, I don't know what
Speaker 6: it is.
Speaker 1: And you use the word torture, can you just talk
Speaker 1: to me for a second about the use of that
Speaker 1: word torture to refer to what you live through in
Speaker 1: the andes.
Speaker 6: It's never ending pain from for the soul and the body.
Speaker 6: But incredibly, incredibly, this film has no malignancy. This is
Speaker 6: a film that could be seen by twelve year old
Speaker 6: boys because there's no human malignancy. It's the ancient fight
Speaker 6: of men against nature. We're facing nature.
Speaker 1: Roberto servis just a little bit.
Speaker 6: I am. I am a cardiologist, so I can't fix it.
Speaker 1: How can you men a broken heart?
Speaker 6: How can you stop the rain from falling down? Oh?
Speaker 6: Can you stop? How about that? I'm a romantic, I'm
Speaker 6: a termal romantic. I can't start.
Speaker 5: How can you.
Speaker 8: Stop the rain?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: The song is Al Green's hit how can you mend
Speaker 1: a Broken Heart? It came out in nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 1: the same year Roberto survived that plane crash in the Andes.
Speaker 1: Coming up, I asked actor Matthias RecA what it was
Speaker 1: like to play Roberto Kanessa in the film, some of
Speaker 1: the challenges that came up with some very intensely emotional
Speaker 1: and physical scenes in the movie, and what has stayed
Speaker 1: with him about the story of relentless survival stay with us,
Speaker 1: not byas hey, we're back before the break we heard
Speaker 1: from Roberto Ganesa, one of the sixteen survivors from the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two plane crash in the Andes. The incredible
Speaker 1: story has been taken to the big screen and is
Speaker 1: now Spain's candidate for an Oscar in the Best International
Speaker 1: Feature Film category. In the movie, Roberto Carnesa is played
Speaker 1: by Matthias ricalto Mesina. Before playing Roberto, Matiez had already
Speaker 1: gained some recognition in his native Argentina for his supporting
Speaker 1: role in the Netflix series Apache, but Society of the
Speaker 1: Snow is definitely a breakthrough for this actor, so I
Speaker 1: wanted to take him back to when he was first
Speaker 1: auditioning for the role and finding out who Roberto was.
Speaker 1: The character that he would be playing. And by the way,
Speaker 1: even though Matiez speaks English, he felt more comfortable chatting
Speaker 1: with me in Spanish. So Matti, yes, I know that
Speaker 1: the process of auditioning for the film was just beautiful.
Speaker 1: And the moment when all of you find out that
Speaker 1: you were actually cast. How much did you know about
Speaker 1: Roberto before you played Roberto in the film?
Speaker 8: Well, no Roberto, no andel de Roe, Chantela or porcel
Speaker 8: Argentina and Argentina secte Chicota and to Familia.
Speaker 1: Mattiaz said that he remembered hearing about the plane crash
Speaker 1: when he was little, because members of his family would
Speaker 1: be talking about this event that happened in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 8: Guando Guano, Roberto sawa Avia, Wido sants and likedro loses well,
Speaker 8: bileedro Lo san dis robertoo.
Speaker 1: And then Mattias tells me that he ends up visiting
Speaker 1: his theater teacher, who happened to have a copy of
Speaker 1: the book that Roberto Canesa wrote about his experience in
Speaker 1: the Andes. It's a book that not everyone has, and
Speaker 1: Mattia says he found this kind of mystical.
Speaker 9: Roberto dambien.
Speaker 8: Jo Dennisoso.
Speaker 1: He says, the first time Roberto and Jim met in person,
Speaker 1: they played tennis against another survivor of the plane crash.
Speaker 1: His name is Gustabo Serbino, along with the actor who
Speaker 1: played him in the Society of the Snow the real
Speaker 1: life and the fictional Ganessas actually beat the Serbinos in
Speaker 1: that game. Roerto, what was it like for you when
Speaker 1: you met Matis?
Speaker 6: Well, it moved my heart because he was going to
Speaker 6: give his best to do everything, and I thought, I'm
Speaker 6: going to help you, but it's up to him how
Speaker 6: much he will receive.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, and I know this is strange, Roberto,
Speaker 1: all of it is strange. Right, see yourself in your
Speaker 1: twenties pro how did Matias do?
Speaker 6: Spectacular? Very good?
Speaker 9: Very good?
Speaker 1: So an iNeST momento, Matis, what have you learned from
Speaker 1: Roberto as a human being who is alive? Right? And
Speaker 1: what did you learn about Roberto as a character that
Speaker 1: you were playing during the entire filming process.
Speaker 9: Poco a.
Speaker 8: Pegno momentos roberta.
Speaker 9: La okaycho.
Speaker 4: Miguel Mattias told me that he appreciated how much Roberto
Speaker 4: values his family and his friends, and he learned from
Speaker 4: Roberto that while he was willing to step up and
Speaker 4: give so much of himself in that extreme situation, he
Speaker 4: liked Mattias also kept something private just to themselves, things
Speaker 4: that they didn't share with the others.
Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy, but because this film has gone worldwide,
Speaker 1: all of those things that you say that you appreciate
Speaker 1: about Roberto the person are things that we're not learning
Speaker 1: about him, and the whole world is learning. So, speaking
Speaker 1: of which getting really huge. You know, when the film
Speaker 1: gets nominated for an Oscar, it is in fact a
Speaker 1: big deal. So I want to know where were the
Speaker 1: both of you when you found out that you actually
Speaker 1: had been nominated, your film had been nominated for an Oscar.
Speaker 1: So what was your immediate reaction?
Speaker 6: I was not very impressed. I mean, I think that
Speaker 6: there are so many stupid films around. There was about
Speaker 6: time to give time for important films speaking about human
Speaker 6: values and and and being made so well by by
Speaker 6: a Latin you know what, something that they deserved. I mean,
Speaker 6: these poor actors, they were all they they're putting snow
Speaker 6: under under the clothes to fill the cold. They were
Speaker 6: and among themselves they build a group and they took
Speaker 6: care about about each other, and there was great I
Speaker 6: mean they suffered a lot until late o'clock when they
Speaker 6: went to hotel to get the whole shower.
Speaker 1: Like Roberto Mattiz tells me that he actually wasn't that
Speaker 1: impressed with the Oscar nomination. He also said he knew
Speaker 1: the movie deserved the recognition.
Speaker 9: Project, and then he said.
Speaker 1: Winning would be a nice surprise.
Speaker 3: Though.
Speaker 8: Amos better better. Feliceo gle persona pargetto.
Speaker 1: So Madias, I actually want to ask what was the
Speaker 1: hardest part of it all?
Speaker 8: Wells and ke momento mafisi for momento momento an fico
Speaker 8: emotionali tegnico macon brigo.
Speaker 1: Matthias said that re enacting the avalanche that took place
Speaker 1: seventeen days after the plane crashed, an avalanche that would
Speaker 1: kill eight of the initial survivors, was the hardest part
Speaker 1: of filming, physically, emotionally and.
Speaker 8: Technically domnas dom madioso don remente mosonantes don de sa
Speaker 8: jenmertoos pienoes full momento mass mass manifici.
Speaker 1: Mattias said it would take them two weeks filming inside
Speaker 1: a plane with real snow and ice in order to
Speaker 1: get those scenes, and yet Matthias adds that there were
Speaker 1: multiple hard moments during the filming.
Speaker 9: Tomentolo Lacient.
Speaker 8: Dies at l Now particularly.
Speaker 1: He says it's because they chose to film chronologically, which
Speaker 1: meant that death became more and more present with every
Speaker 1: day that they were filming, because people were dying in
Speaker 1: real life, and then the actors had to interpret that
Speaker 1: along with the exhaustion, because all of the actors had
Speaker 1: to lose weight in order to stay true to the
Speaker 1: story and their almost starvation. I know that watching the film,
Speaker 1: you're right, as Batia said, there are several things that happen,
Speaker 1: which is like getting punched over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: Things continue to happen, but when there is the avalanche,
Speaker 1: I did feel like, how do you just not give up?
Speaker 1: Was in fact the avalanche one of the worst things
Speaker 1: that happened? Or was it like hra was just one
Speaker 1: more thing?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 6: What was the worst? Yeah? I mean it's like when
Speaker 6: you they kick you on the floor. That's what I
Speaker 6: felt that I was being beaten on the floor, and
Speaker 6: and the state of spiritual stature was that I had
Speaker 6: envy for dead people. I thought they were they were
Speaker 6: better than me. That I was a worse person and
Speaker 6: I need to pay my sins because I didn't have anything.
Speaker 6: The think I had is life. And on the next day,
Speaker 6: Alito Spice says, this is a very important day and
Speaker 6: today my sister's day. And next year we were like,
Speaker 6: we have a barbecue with cream and cheese and everything.
Speaker 6: I said, shut up, Calito's only stupid were dying here
Speaker 6: and you were speaking about your stupid party, and he said, Canisa,
Speaker 6: you have very ill tempered. I'm not going to invite
Speaker 6: you to the or barbar.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Okay. So obviously the question has to
Speaker 1: be the role of humor in all of this, The
Speaker 1: role of laughter in your survival.
Speaker 6: Looka between sublime and ridiculous. There's no limit, and to
Speaker 6: to laugh at your own disgrace, it helps you to
Speaker 6: get around suffer.
Speaker 1: Bless Mattias, What do you hope that people get from
Speaker 1: the film? Like, what do you think is the message
Speaker 1: of the film?
Speaker 8: At the COLLECTI and the personas.
Speaker 9: Luas and Ma.
Speaker 8: Confier okay, okay, car finale pass.
Speaker 1: For Mattias, he says, the message of the film is
Speaker 1: the power of unity in the face of a common
Speaker 1: goal and a hope that there can always be a
Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 8: Momentos doos almost a second films, and.
Speaker 1: He says it's also about the ability of human beings
Speaker 1: to overcome anything, including death. Mattias lost his father two
Speaker 1: months before he began filming. Roberto, what can you share
Speaker 1: with us about the thing that kept you alive? That miracle?
Speaker 6: What is it being very strubborn or what do you
Speaker 6: want realizing that someday you're going to die? But what
Speaker 6: about the other days? And the dying is not that bad?
Speaker 6: When I was buried alive in the avalanche and I
Speaker 6: felt I was dying, it wasn't that bad. You are
Speaker 6: a chronicle.
Speaker 1: Crier, then you're already read a chronicle crier, Roberto. We
Speaker 1: know that you have to go back to your patients.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for your entire story and
Speaker 1: for spending some time with me and with Matthias and
Speaker 1: letting the USA.
Speaker 6: And I am very, very proud of of Matthias. He
Speaker 6: did a great job in the film. He's like the
Speaker 6: voice of the conscious. He's he's always there, hearing and
Speaker 6: ready to make contributions in a very humble way, which is.
Speaker 1: Not likely an absolute masterpiece.
Speaker 6: Kisses Pieces, Bye Bye.
Speaker 1: If Alicia is Mike de Alberti is the first Chilean
Speaker 1: woman to be nominated for an Academy Award. This is
Speaker 1: the second time one of her films is nominated for
Speaker 1: Best Documentary Feature. This time she's competing with the film
Speaker 1: The Eternal Memory, which is a documentary about the relationship
Speaker 1: between Chilean journalist Agusta gong Ra and his wife, the
Speaker 1: actress Aulina Urutia. They are coping with Gongorras Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 1: Gong Rah, the journalist, dedicated most of his career to
Speaker 1: exposing human rights violations during the dictatorship of Agusto Pinochet
Speaker 1: in Chile from nineteen seventy three to nineteen ninety and
Speaker 1: he was committed to keeping that memory alive. It is
Speaker 1: a powerful movie, and so I start my conversation with
Speaker 1: might say by telling her why I found her film
Speaker 1: to be so incredibly relatable. I have to tell you
Speaker 1: your movie when it was really profound because my father,
Speaker 1: who was at a very accomplished medical doctor with a brilliant mind,
Speaker 1: also had Alzheimer's and basically my mom and my brother
Speaker 1: were told by my dad's doctor. Once he passed away,
Speaker 1: they said, had it not been for the amount of
Speaker 1: love that you gave doctor Rino Josa, he would have
Speaker 1: died at least five years ago. So I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you a little bit about what did you learn
Speaker 1: about love in the making of your film The Eternal Memory.
Speaker 10: I think I learned that there is not only one
Speaker 10: way to understand love, there is not only one way
Speaker 10: to leave relationships. And I learned that when you have
Speaker 10: a love, even the tragical events or situations do not
Speaker 10: become dramas like you can live it in another way.
Speaker 1: Your film opens with the story of a very well
Speaker 1: known journalist. His name is Agusta Gonra. His wife who
Speaker 1: is seventeen years younger than him, her name is Baulina Urutia,
Speaker 1: and she's this beautiful and captivating actress, and very quickly
Speaker 1: your film goes into their love story. But it's a
Speaker 1: love story surrounding Alzheimer's And at first I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, how where and how does she find
Speaker 1: the patience to shower her husband who is losing his
Speaker 1: memory with so much love and tenderness and patience. And
Speaker 1: I want to know more about your decision to open
Speaker 1: your film in this way.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I started the film there because it's like a
Speaker 10: moment that it's so that represents so good the mood
Speaker 10: of the relationship, Like he got awake in the middle
Speaker 10: of the night, completely lost. So if I were there
Speaker 10: as a wife, probably I will get crazy like why
Speaker 10: you don't remember me? But she made completely the opposite,
Speaker 10: like she last and she's like, well, and your wife
Speaker 10: we have been together for twenty years and he's like,
Speaker 10: really I have a wife, Yeah you have and in
Speaker 10: a very nice standard mood with a patient and with
Speaker 10: her capacity as an actress to repeat and repeat again
Speaker 10: and repeat the emotion. This is because he was a
Speaker 10: good husband too, So like she makes something that is
Speaker 10: really important that he never felt that he has an
Speaker 10: empty space of memory because it's time that he forgets something.
Speaker 10: She's there to give the information.
Speaker 4: Would you do.
Speaker 1: About see As you know, it's a very intimate film.
Speaker 1: We basically spend all of this time being very intimate
Speaker 1: with the couple with Augusta and Paulina, which makes me
Speaker 1: think about how you end up getting introduced to them.
Speaker 1: I mean, there were a public couple, people knew them
Speaker 1: their high profile, but what made you say, you know what,
Speaker 1: let me put a camera in your house.
Speaker 10: I was sitting in a university and she works there,
Speaker 10: and I realized that she bring him to her work,
Speaker 10: and I knew that he has Alzheimer, and he was
Speaker 10: so in society and they were so in love that
Speaker 10: for me, it was a big example of how we
Speaker 10: have to take care today as a society. The people
Speaker 10: that was working with her integrate him, and she was
Speaker 10: not embarrassed and she didn't isolate him. And there were
Speaker 10: a couple that were in the world and were trying
Speaker 10: to be on society, and that was like my first
Speaker 10: emats and what I really wanted to represent with them.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that happens with the Eternal
Speaker 1: Memory is that because Baulina is an actor, at certain
Speaker 1: moments you're like, wait, am I watching a film or
Speaker 1: am I watching a documentary? So can you actually describe
Speaker 1: for me, like the moment, the worst moment when you
Speaker 1: had I don't know how many hundreds of hours of
Speaker 1: tape and then the decisions that you made to help
Speaker 1: you understand the through line was going to be.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think that I was very lucky, as do
Speaker 10: you say, because as she's an actress. For me, it's
Speaker 10: the first time that it's super fast to them to
Speaker 10: get used to the camera and in the editing. Yeah,
Speaker 10: I think it's the challenge that all the documentary filmmakers
Speaker 10: have that to have so many hours that I always
Speaker 10: said that the documentary filmmakers are like a sculptor artist,
Speaker 10: that we have a big rock and we have to
Speaker 10: take out, take out, take out to make the figure appear.
Speaker 10: I think that all the portraits that we see in
Speaker 10: cinema about Alzheimer, we always see the dark side and
Speaker 10: not everything. It's a nightmare, and that is something that
Speaker 10: we have to understand.
Speaker 1: The Eternal Memory premiered in Chile last year, just as
Speaker 1: the country marked the fiftieth anniversary of the death of
Speaker 1: Salvador the president who was deposed and murdered in a
Speaker 1: military dictatorship that took over in nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 9: Soloso El.
Speaker 5: Elcandro Santiago.
Speaker 1: So I was alive on September eleventh, nineteen seventy three,
Speaker 1: when the democratic government is destroyed and the dictatorship begins,
Speaker 1: and your film, for many people is again it's about
Speaker 1: that memory too, but in many ways it is a
Speaker 1: deeply political film.
Speaker 10: It's a it's a deeply political film because my characters
Speaker 10: are so commit with politics, like Agusto work for preserve
Speaker 10: the historical memory. So the film it's trying to make
Speaker 10: the same exercise that he did of his life in
Speaker 10: his job, like he he has a clandestine news cast
Speaker 10: report on everything that was happening in the country during dictatorship.
Speaker 10: So I think that's the film. It's trying to make
Speaker 10: the same that he did during all his life.
Speaker 1: Mike, Dy, was it a big deal for you to
Speaker 1: get nominated for an Oscar? Was it something or were
Speaker 1: you more just like, oh, okay, well that's that's nice.
Speaker 10: No, it's it's always a big deal. It's a lot
Speaker 10: of work behind that. It's a lot of people working
Speaker 10: on that, and it means the possibility of continue shooting
Speaker 10: and that it's for me the power of awards and nominations.
Speaker 1: Which means that it makes your hustle as a filmmaker
Speaker 1: just a little bit easier. Thank you so much, Mike,
Speaker 1: definitely see that is it's a it's a beautiful film.
Speaker 10: Thank you, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: That was director Mike de Alberti speaking to us from London,
Speaker 1: where she is busy working on her next documentary, and no,
Speaker 1: she would not reveal what it's about. Coming up, I
Speaker 1: speak to Cuban American producer Phil Lord about all things
Speaker 1: Spider Man. Stay with us, Yes, m Phil Lord is
Speaker 1: already an Academy Award winning producer. His movie Spider Man
Speaker 1: Into This Spider Verse got the Oscar for Best Animated
Speaker 1: Feature in the year twenty nineteen.
Speaker 5: Yeah, gotta go.
Speaker 6: If you want me to drive you, we gotta go
Speaker 6: now personal soufur goalwards.
Speaker 9: Okay, seriously, Dad Walkin would have been fine.
Speaker 4: Breaking news.
Speaker 9: Spider Man saves the day, a guess.
Speaker 1: Phil Lord has also made a name for himself alongside
Speaker 1: his producing partner Christopher Miller, for films like the Lego Movie,
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty two, Jump Street, and now the
Speaker 1: Spider Versus trilogy. But even though Phil Lord is Cuban American,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot out there about his Latini dad,
Speaker 1: which is why that's where I wanted to start. So, Phil,
Speaker 1: it's really great to have you on the show, and
Speaker 1: thank you so much for making time with us.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, it's an honor to be here.
Speaker 1: Oh well, thank you, Phil. So we are talking on
Speaker 1: Zoom we're both on camera and your ID on your
Speaker 1: computer here in zoom, says Phil Lord Ibetankour.
Speaker 2: Metancud is my mother's family name, as she's born in Cuba,
Speaker 2: moved to this country in nineteen sixty, moved to Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: and down the line met my father, who's an American,
Speaker 2: at a music therapy convention in I think Minnesota.
Speaker 1: That's a great story. So can you just paint a
Speaker 1: picture of little Phil Tummatte? How did your mom call
Speaker 1: you Philippe Philippe? So take us back to a little
Speaker 1: Philippe half Cuban kid growing up in Miami and you're
Speaker 1: watching movies and you're like, hey, I want to do that?
Speaker 1: Or were you thinking I'm going to be a medical doctor?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 5: I mean it was.
Speaker 2: My parents are both their first love is music. My
Speaker 2: father ran a dance company in South Florida, which was
Speaker 2: a bit of an merging cultural landscape for modern dance.
Speaker 2: And they and you know, we're still like a refugee family,
Speaker 2: so it was all about like what can you do
Speaker 2: so that you won't starve? But my parents, you know,
Speaker 2: they also understood and instilled in my sister and I
Speaker 2: love of the arts. So it's not a surprise that
Speaker 2: by the time I was, you know, ten years old,
Speaker 2: that it was something that I was going to do.
Speaker 5: I think they knew it before I did.
Speaker 1: So jumping super fast. How does one get from the
Speaker 1: kid in Miami who's like dreaming like maybe I'll go
Speaker 1: into the arts to you're now in Hollywood and you're
Speaker 1: producing and writing major motion pictures.
Speaker 2: I mean a short answer is you get there by accident, right,
Speaker 2: Like I went to college, I met my writing producing
Speaker 2: directing partner, Christopher Miller.
Speaker 8: There.
Speaker 2: Neither of us are one in a million at filmmaking,
Speaker 2: but we work hard. We come from strong, supportive families.
Speaker 2: We have, we're creative, and we're sometimes smart. And when
Speaker 2: you compound those things, they can add up to one
Speaker 2: in a million.
Speaker 1: Right, and then you win your first oscar actually for
Speaker 1: your Spider Man into the Spider Verse Best Animated Feature
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 6: Spider Man, I mean this guy swings in once today
Speaker 6: zip zeps up in his little mask and answers to
Speaker 6: no one, right, yeah, dad, Yeah?
Speaker 1: So how does that connection happen? Right there?
Speaker 2: Thing that's great about Spider Man and comics is when
Speaker 2: you know when Marvel was coming to prominence in the sixties.
Speaker 2: Their whole idea was populism. Their character We're not from
Speaker 2: outer space, and Spider Man is not someone who.
Speaker 5: Has power because it's his birthright.
Speaker 2: He has power because he was chosen at random, and
Speaker 2: he succeeds because he's got a big heart.
Speaker 5: And so we we've always tried.
Speaker 2: To ignore any artificial barriers between you know, the stuff
Speaker 2: that people enjoy on mass and the stuff and the
Speaker 2: things that make us feel transported in an art museum
Speaker 2: or in a concert hall.
Speaker 1: Mmmm hmm, Holy Phil. Okay, Okay, so look, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna be really honest with you. I'm not you know,
Speaker 1: comic books. Okay, to be honest, I'm not like a
Speaker 1: big Spider Man like, oh my God, like I have
Speaker 1: to be there, right. But I will tell you this.
Speaker 1: I did watch this film that is nominated. Bro. I
Speaker 1: freaking loved it. I was bro so surprise. It's not
Speaker 1: the glitzy glam of Superman and Clark Kent. It's like
Speaker 1: my neighborhoods meets Barrios. There's all of these hints, right.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite, of course, is when the mom
Speaker 1: says bendiscion or he asks for the bendiscion, which is
Speaker 1: just like, so, the truth is is that I really
Speaker 1: did fall in love with Miles Morales in this film,
Speaker 1: and it is a big deal to see an Afro
Speaker 1: Latino teenager as Spider Man and as essentially kind of
Speaker 1: ruling New York City. Tell me why, why were you like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's got to be Afro Latino for sure.
Speaker 5: First of all, you're gonna make you making me tear up?
Speaker 1: Oh my god?
Speaker 2: Why just because it's so lovely that that you connected
Speaker 2: with the movie with you know, so many people put
Speaker 2: so much energy into the details and we hope that
Speaker 2: they aggregate into a you know, a feeling he did,
Speaker 2: and we try not to like, you know, we wanted
Speaker 2: those things that you noticed.
Speaker 5: We want that to feel commonplace.
Speaker 2: Miles comes from two creators, an Italian woman named Sarah Picelli,
Speaker 2: an illustrator, and Brian Bendis a comic book creator lives
Speaker 2: in Portland.
Speaker 6: And they.
Speaker 2: Brian has two daughters from Africa, and he was looking
Speaker 2: around for comics to you know, turn them on too,
Speaker 2: and there he said that there wasn't enough. So he's like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna write one. So when Amy Pascal, our producer
Speaker 2: came to us and said, will you do a Spider
Speaker 2: Man movie animated? We said no and hung up. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe two minutes later, we said, well, what if it
Speaker 2: was about Miles. At that time, Miles is the is
Speaker 2: the most popular new comic book in the Marvel universe.
Speaker 2: And we called Amy back. We said, what if it's
Speaker 2: Miles Morales. Who's Miles Morales? He's a you know, Afro
Speaker 2: Puerto Rican kid with an intact family.
Speaker 5: She says, I love it, and she hung up.
Speaker 1: I love it, gobye, do it?
Speaker 5: I love it? Gobye.
Speaker 2: But the choice to center Miles and his family was
Speaker 2: really little and easy.
Speaker 1: How much do do the production teams and writers take
Speaker 1: into consideration that, you know, thirty percent of movie ticket
Speaker 1: sales are bought by Latinos, and latinas.
Speaker 5: An over index for animation.
Speaker 1: By the way, Oh that's a new one that I
Speaker 1: didn't know. So Latino and Latina viewers over index in
Speaker 1: terms of their connection to animation.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 2: And I wish I was a sociologist and can tell
Speaker 2: you why.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Interesting anyway, So I thought that there would be
Speaker 1: a whole lot of frankly kind of corporate thinking about well,
Speaker 1: We definitely want to make sure that this is a
Speaker 1: Latino Afro Latino focus because it's going to help us
Speaker 1: with the movie sales. And you're like, nah, it wasn't
Speaker 1: It wasn't like that, But in fact it is a
Speaker 1: brilliant marketing strategy and just well factual inclusivity, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we want to represent the world as it is,
Speaker 2: so we want to if you go to New York
Speaker 2: and you look and listen like this is what you
Speaker 2: see and you're almost you're being a dishonest, not very
Speaker 2: effective artist if you don't represent the world that way.
Speaker 2: Apart from the strategic and commercial premise that if we
Speaker 2: meet the audience where they are, we can all, you know,
Speaker 2: win big, it really just starts with wanting to make
Speaker 2: a good movie.
Speaker 1: I mean it does ultimately. I mean it is about
Speaker 1: making a good movie, which means that when you make
Speaker 1: a good movie and it's different and it connects with people,
Speaker 1: it means that you get nominated for an Oscar. So
Speaker 1: when you heard that you were nominated again, what happened?
Speaker 2: I mean, we're very proud and happy for the crew
Speaker 2: more than anything else. You know, every movie is a risk.
Speaker 2: This movie is a big one. It's a huge financial
Speaker 2: investment from the studio. You're very grateful that the movie resonates,
Speaker 2: because when a movie like this is a hit, and
Speaker 2: this is the third highest grossing domestic release of the year, Okay,
Speaker 2: humble Bragg, just yeah, sorry, it means that people will
Speaker 2: make more.
Speaker 1: So why do you think that Spider Man, in the
Speaker 1: whole story of Spider Man, continues to resonate.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's one of us, and it's as simple
Speaker 2: as that. That's what makes Miles unique from most of
Speaker 2: the other Spider people is that his parents are both
Speaker 2: alive and they're together. And one of the things I've
Speaker 2: learned making movies is conflict is over rape. Did There's
Speaker 2: a big difference between watching people in a fight and
Speaker 2: two people trying to get along and watching people in
Speaker 2: harmony is so entertaining.
Speaker 1: And taking a Latino family with all of that nuance
Speaker 1: and saying check this out.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 6: Miles's grades are pretty good.
Speaker 1: A and AP physics.
Speaker 6: That's my little man, and AP studio arts.
Speaker 5: He takes after his uncle.
Speaker 10: A minus in English, she's a tough grader, and a
Speaker 10: B in Spanish.
Speaker 5: Mommy, I so know that's my fault.
Speaker 1: My faults, and I.
Speaker 2: Just missed a few classes, just a few class you know,
Speaker 2: a big surprise of the movie.
Speaker 5: The first time we showed it to an audience.
Speaker 2: You know, we were saying to ourselves, half this movie
Speaker 2: is people flying around and doing cool stuff, and the
Speaker 2: other other half of the movie is people in rooms talking,
Speaker 2: usually just two people having long conversations.
Speaker 5: And they're like, well, I know they're going to like
Speaker 5: half this movie.
Speaker 2: And somebody in the audience said, you know, this is
Speaker 2: a coming of age story for the kids and the parents.
Speaker 1: And you're saying, this is like super intentional on your part,
Speaker 1: like as as a writer and producer, very intentional.
Speaker 2: So what's critical to making that work is Miles desired
Speaker 2: he's going to get back home to his family, and
Speaker 2: that that chase represents something deeply emotional, which is I
Speaker 2: thought I was going to be part of this group.
Speaker 2: I thought they were going to be as supportive, more
Speaker 2: supportive than the people that I left back home, and.
Speaker 5: I was wrong. They betrayed me, and now I'm on
Speaker 5: my own.
Speaker 2: Like people in a story having an emotional experience, what, Peter,
Speaker 2: why did you betray me?
Speaker 5: Like that's what it's really about.
Speaker 1: And ultimately, always listen to your mother for real.
Speaker 2: You know, I think my mother would relate to this
Speaker 2: like you. You could give them the answers to the quiz,
Speaker 2: but you're not.
Speaker 5: They're not ready. They have to find it themselves.
Speaker 1: So talking talk about finding things by ourselves. Can we
Speaker 1: talk for a moment about the state of Latinos and
Speaker 1: latinas latinx Latine folks in Hollywood. Does it feel like
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four is a little bit different or is
Speaker 1: it like, Nah, this is how it goes, and it
Speaker 1: is still always and continuously a hustle.
Speaker 5: It's always a hustle.
Speaker 2: I speak as someone, you know, a white Cuban from
Speaker 2: Miami who has not faced a great deal of discrimination
Speaker 2: growing up.
Speaker 5: It's like it's just different down there, right.
Speaker 2: However, the oscars are a very small sample size and
Speaker 2: there's a lot of noise in the data. I think
Speaker 2: this year we have a lot to celebrate America. Ferreira's
Speaker 2: nomination is historic and wonderful. She's a wonderful filmmaker. She's
Speaker 2: got a long way to go this year. There's also
Speaker 2: a nomination for Flame and Hot, one of my favorite
Speaker 2: movies of the year. Aha, it's not a rise and
Speaker 2: fall story. It's a rise and rise story, a good idea.
Speaker 5: It's a spicy cap It's gonna change everything.
Speaker 6: It will see our factory and you're a janitor. We're
Speaker 6: gonna go hang out.
Speaker 5: There is a crazy idea and.
Speaker 1: The first Afro Latino cole Men Domingo.
Speaker 5: That's it and so not bad.
Speaker 2: I think we have a long way to go, but
Speaker 2: there are green shoots, and the Latino community specifically has
Speaker 2: a lot of energy and community building that will pay
Speaker 2: dividends in the long run.
Speaker 1: And so what do you recommend in terms of continuing
Speaker 1: to try to make that happen.
Speaker 2: The boring answer is you have to have intention and
Speaker 2: you have to have insistence.
Speaker 5: So you need you can't.
Speaker 2: Just go like, here's our one Latino project and oh, whoops,
Speaker 2: it didn't work out. You have to have ten and
Speaker 2: you have to put the intentionality and resources towards developing it.
Speaker 1: And of course everyone thinks Hollywood, you know, once you're there,
Speaker 1: it's easy. It's a hustle, and it's a hustle for
Speaker 1: Latino and Latina stories in particular, which leads me to
Speaker 1: what's coming up next in terms of the Spider Versus trilogy.
Speaker 1: Am I gonna love it as much? Dimelo Felippe, Mama,
Speaker 1: Who's that?
Speaker 2: The next picture is about really interesting emotional ideas, Really
Speaker 2: about the question of what do you do with your
Speaker 2: disappointment and anger and the feelings of betrayal that Miles
Speaker 2: is left with at the end of this movie. How
Speaker 2: does Miles take that those feelings and turn them into
Speaker 2: something beautiful. That's kind of what we're trying to make
Speaker 2: the next picture about.
Speaker 1: Phil Lord ivetur M. Yes, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having this conversation with me about the Spider Verse. Congratulations
Speaker 1: on your nomination for an oscar.
Speaker 5: Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I hope you win asdatis. Thank you so much, Spider
Speaker 1: Man Beyond the Spider Verse. The final part of the
Speaker 1: trilogy will be released later this year, and the oscars
Speaker 1: will be seen on Sunday, March tenth, and good luck
Speaker 1: to all the nominees. This episode was produced by Marina Pena.
Speaker 1: It was edited by Andrea Lopez Cruzado. It was mixed
Speaker 1: by gabriel Lebayez. The Latino USA team also includes Vittoria Strada,
Speaker 1: Renaldo Leanos Junior, Dori mar Marquez, Marta Martinez Mike Sargent,
Speaker 1: Nor Saudi and Nancy Trujillo. Penille Ramirez is our co
Speaker 1: executive producer. Our director of engineering is Stephanie Lebau. Our
Speaker 1: senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Additional engineering support by j J. Carubin.
Speaker 1: Our marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was
Speaker 1: composed by Saniel Roubinos. I'm your host and executive producer
Speaker 1: Maria no Josa. Join us again on our next episode.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, look for us on social media and
Speaker 1: remember not teva Yes a stele proxima.
Speaker 3: Chaou Latino USA is made by Possible, in part by
Speaker 3: the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines
Speaker 3: of social change worldwide, The John D. And Catherine T.
Speaker 3: MacArthur Foundation and Alonso come to.
Speaker 6: What is local? Is you know?
Speaker 9: And says.
Speaker 6: Dennis, I know revelation the relations actor. Look at that.
Speaker 1: Fella, sy that is Matthias Fairy. See that is we
Speaker 1: hope you win the goal?
Speaker 9: Yeah yes I can.
Speaker 6: Tun of parties, the gam exit.
Speaker 9: Look at the not.
Speaker 1: You are so funny, okay interpreting Marlon Brands.
Speaker 5: Oh my god,