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By Maria Belilovskaya
Alicia Scherson’s short films have played in festivals all over the world. Now this young Chilean director came to the SFIFF with her first feature, Play, which tells a story of young people’s connections and interactions in the big city of Santiago de Chile.
What inspired you to make the film?
I was living outside of Chile at the time. I was living in Chicago. I was thinking about Santiago. I missed it. I really wanted to make a movie about Santiago because it is such a hard city to define. I wanted to film the city and to get characters to walk around the city, like in a game. And then I got my wallet stolen, and I kept thinking, what the person that stole my wallet would know about me, what of my objects really represent what I am. So I think those two ideas got it all started.
What aspects of Santiago did you want to emphasize?
I think that it is a very hostile city, not a very warm city. But at the same time it can be warm, if you find the right corner. It can be very nice, but it can be very aggressive, too, and very wild. I wanted to talk about that contradiction. This is the city we love and hate. Everybody in Santiago always says how they want to leave, to go to the beach, to go to the Valparaiso. Yet nobody does.
How important is that the girl in the film, Christina, is from the south and the main male character, Tristan, is from Santiago?
It is important. I wanted her to become a foreigner in the city. She is an outsider all the time, so that gives me a point of view of a voyeur or the detective in the city. In Santiago when people walk, they don’t look around. But she is looking at everything. Through her eyes we see the city.
And she is a Mapuche?
Yes, a Mapuche indian. They live in the South. There are many Mapuches in Chile, a lot of them move to the city to work on low-paying jobs like maids and cleaners. They are discriminated against a lot. I didn’t want to make a movie about Mapuche problem, but the woman had to be native because Santiago is a city of immigrants in a way. Christina has a very strong roots. She belongs there, but she doesn’t feel that way. She feels maybe more like “The Streetfighter” character.
Why did you come up with a computer game? Are you a gamer yourself?
No, I’ve been observing them (laughs). Christina is always living these other lives, one from National Geographic, reading about other places, the other from the video game, then another one following this guy, so she is a person who doesn’t have her own life, she is just following other people. And the moment when she gets into a fight is when the game becomes real for a moment.
Does she get to the next level?
I think so. And I think she has more tools now for this level. She knows more about herself. She knows the poor people and the rich people, she knows the love stories, how they work and how they don’t work. And I think she knows a lot more about life now.
The male characters in Play are so weak and hapless, while the women are strong and they know what they want.
I actually rewrote the male characters many times, differently, and they were always very weak, and then I decided that’s how they were. I think that men are at the turning point now. Theiridentity is changing. I see it in my friends; I see it in my generation. They feel a little lost. I talked to them and they really don’t know how to live. They were raised in a more macho culture, which is Chile, but the world has changed. Where they are going now? They would really have to redefine themselves. I suppose that for the new generation, which was already born in a more equal world, it would be easier.
There are two excellent Chilean movies in this Festival. What is the situation for filmmakers now in Chile?
There are like, 15 films a year, which is a record for us. Of those 15 there are five that are young, digital and urban, that had made a circuit of the international film festivals. Now people are starting to talk about this generation of filmmakers, and it is great.
What about the audience? Are people ready to see the Chilean films?
Oh no. I wish they were. It is really hard to compete with Hollywood blockbusters. It is really an unfair competition because they have so much money in the marketing. We need help, and we hope for help from the government. We need to create protection for the film industry, like a quota for Chilean films. It is the only way to reverse the situation. But, as you know, we have a socialist president, so I hope we should be able to figure that out.
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