Gloria, which just finished playing Tiff, directed by Sebastian Lelio and starring Paulina Garcia has been selected to represent Chile in the Foreign Language race for the 86th Academy Awards ®
Fresh off its highly successful North American premiere at The Telluride Film Festival, Gloria was Special Presentation at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival.
I was lucky to be able to spend an hour speaking with director Sebastián Lelio and
2013 Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award winner Paulina Garcia, the film’s star.
Paulina Garcia in real life barely resembled Gloria who is a seemingly comfortable “woman of a certain age” who still feels young…like me, and also like me, she enjoys dancing. Her children have lives of their own as does her former husband, she has a job and while comfortable, she is a bit at a loss for a place and for love. I had not realized that in fact those people I dance with are perhaps also looking for love – all I ever see them do is dance.
But like Gloria, though lonely, they are making the best of their situation. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair - until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever.
Speaking with Paulina Garcia, I was first struck with how unlike the character Gloria she was. Sophisticated and refined, speaking perfect English, we related on a different level from how I related to her in the film, and I had related intimately; I had identified completely with Gloria and I had thought I would, in fact, be meeting Gloria herself.
Paulina told me how unusual it is to be in every scene. Playing such a character focused so deeply into life forced her to move the center of herself to a different point. After the movie had been shot, she felt the pain in her very bones from the different positions and motions of Gloria’s person. When it was over, she felt like she had emerged from a very deep ocean dive. Acting is on the surface, but the character played is really more like an iceberg.
Sebastian added that the relationship between Gloria and everyone else is not the action but in the air around them. It is the anti-matter you experience in the film, not the plot. The spotlight was always upon her. There was not a single frame in which Gloria’s body was not present. Every single scene is about how she is feeling about people, things and the world. And she reflects the world, as it is today in Santiago, Chile – discontented and seeking ways to take action against the discontent.
The relationship built between Sebastian and Paulina prior to filming was not based on the film, but on aligning their minds. It was an unusual friendship that was built between the director and actress. He gave her things to read unrelated to the film, she read Cassavetes on Cassavetes, (the name Gloria was not spurious); he gave her quotes, information on vortexes and whatever else interested him in those days. He was very clear about how personal the film would be, creating layers of emotion and artistry. Once they began working together, they shared a sort of mindful shorthand. He might say, “Do your own vortex” and she would define the world in her own terms so she could do her part. Paulina/Gloria was the point of the film and everything had to go around her, as if she were the vortex.
The other character in the film – whom we did not discuss at all, but who was an extraordinary counterweight to Gloria, was Sergio Hernandez who played Rodolfo. Very sexy and very soulful, he is dogged in his pursuit of Gloria and is dogged by his “ex-wife” and daughters. He has played in Sebastian Lelio’s previous films La Sagrada Familia in 2006 which I caught during my first trip to Chile as an guest of the Valdivia Film Festival in ‘05 and in El Ano del Tigre, his third film which played Locarno in 2011. Both these were also “insistent observations of characters going through evolutionary crossroads: family as a sacred trap; the interest in the tension that exists between a person and character; and the conviction that film is a face-on battle”, to quote Sebastian.
La Sagrada Familia was shot in 3 days in 35mm, a true indie film. It was a sort of “punk” film and it met with great success and so Sebastian could access national funds to make his second film Navidad which along with some private investment was finally paid off two months ago. Navidad was about teenage runaways going through a sort of initiation into the carney world. He directed Year of the Tiger just after Chile’s major earthquake and Fabula put in the money ($100,000) for this urgent film. It is a testament to the Year Zero and was shot in 12 days. It went on to play Toronto and Locarno. These are all available along with interviews on Festival Scope.
The year 2005 was the year that a new generation of filmmakers was beginning to create Chilean cinema as we know it today. Not only Sebastian Lelio withLa Sagrada Familia, but the producer of Gloria and Year of the Tiger, Fabula’s Pablo Larrain (along with his brother Juan de Dios Larrain) was developing his breakout film, Tony Manero and had just finished Fuga. Pablo also wrote and directed Post Mortem , produced El año del tigre , produced and directed No and produced this year’s Sundance hit Crystal Fairy. It was Diego Izquierdo whose Sexo con Amor we were repping who brought us to Valdivia that year as he was working on El rey de los huevones . It was the year En la Cama by Matias Bizes ( La vida de los peces ) was the most popular film in Chile and films were finally breaking from the post-Pinochet trauma. The “other Sebastian”, Sebastian Silva, was the inspiration behind the writers of Mala Leche and La Sagrada Familia, and was writing the first film he would also direct, La vida me mata (Life Kills Me).
Gloria was such a fine work of art that it was developed in the Cannes Residency (Cinefondation) program and garnered national funds for its production. It was screened as a Work in Progress first in Chile’s Sanfic and then in San Sebastian in 2012 where it won the Cine in Construccion Award. Sebastian has recently received a Guggenheim fellowship and support of the Daad Berliner Kunstlerprogram for the development of his new projects.
To be witness to Chile’s spectacular growth in the international business gives me such a thrill. I can’t wait to see Sebastian’s next film which he is working on now in the Berlinale Residency (September – December), writing it with an eye toward co-production. The new film explores masculine emotions. Perhaps it will once again star Paulina Garcia.
Gloria
Directed by: Sebastián Lelio
Tiff 2013 - Special Presentation
Chile - 109 minutes - In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Paulina García
Producer: Fabula - Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín
Tiff 2013: Special Presentation
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media
The film will be released by Roadside Attractions and is being sold internationally by Funny Balloons, who has already sold it to
Australia
Rialto Distribution (Australia)
Austria
Thimfilm Gmbh
Brazil
Imovision
Canada
Métropole Films Distribution
Colombia
Babilla Cine
France
Funny Balloons
Germany
Alamode Film
Greece
Strada Films
Israel
New Cinema Ltd.
Italy
Lucky Red
Japan
Respect
Korea (South)
Pancinema
Netherlands
Wild Bunch Benelux
Portugal
Alambique
Sweden
Atlantic Film Ab
Switzerland
Filmcoopi Zurich Ag
Turkey
Bir Film
United Kingdom
Network
USA
Roadside Attractions...
Fresh off its highly successful North American premiere at The Telluride Film Festival, Gloria was Special Presentation at the Toronto Int'l Film Festival.
I was lucky to be able to spend an hour speaking with director Sebastián Lelio and
2013 Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award winner Paulina Garcia, the film’s star.
Paulina Garcia in real life barely resembled Gloria who is a seemingly comfortable “woman of a certain age” who still feels young…like me, and also like me, she enjoys dancing. Her children have lives of their own as does her former husband, she has a job and while comfortable, she is a bit at a loss for a place and for love. I had not realized that in fact those people I dance with are perhaps also looking for love – all I ever see them do is dance.
But like Gloria, though lonely, they are making the best of their situation. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair - until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever.
Speaking with Paulina Garcia, I was first struck with how unlike the character Gloria she was. Sophisticated and refined, speaking perfect English, we related on a different level from how I related to her in the film, and I had related intimately; I had identified completely with Gloria and I had thought I would, in fact, be meeting Gloria herself.
Paulina told me how unusual it is to be in every scene. Playing such a character focused so deeply into life forced her to move the center of herself to a different point. After the movie had been shot, she felt the pain in her very bones from the different positions and motions of Gloria’s person. When it was over, she felt like she had emerged from a very deep ocean dive. Acting is on the surface, but the character played is really more like an iceberg.
Sebastian added that the relationship between Gloria and everyone else is not the action but in the air around them. It is the anti-matter you experience in the film, not the plot. The spotlight was always upon her. There was not a single frame in which Gloria’s body was not present. Every single scene is about how she is feeling about people, things and the world. And she reflects the world, as it is today in Santiago, Chile – discontented and seeking ways to take action against the discontent.
The relationship built between Sebastian and Paulina prior to filming was not based on the film, but on aligning their minds. It was an unusual friendship that was built between the director and actress. He gave her things to read unrelated to the film, she read Cassavetes on Cassavetes, (the name Gloria was not spurious); he gave her quotes, information on vortexes and whatever else interested him in those days. He was very clear about how personal the film would be, creating layers of emotion and artistry. Once they began working together, they shared a sort of mindful shorthand. He might say, “Do your own vortex” and she would define the world in her own terms so she could do her part. Paulina/Gloria was the point of the film and everything had to go around her, as if she were the vortex.
The other character in the film – whom we did not discuss at all, but who was an extraordinary counterweight to Gloria, was Sergio Hernandez who played Rodolfo. Very sexy and very soulful, he is dogged in his pursuit of Gloria and is dogged by his “ex-wife” and daughters. He has played in Sebastian Lelio’s previous films La Sagrada Familia in 2006 which I caught during my first trip to Chile as an guest of the Valdivia Film Festival in ‘05 and in El Ano del Tigre, his third film which played Locarno in 2011. Both these were also “insistent observations of characters going through evolutionary crossroads: family as a sacred trap; the interest in the tension that exists between a person and character; and the conviction that film is a face-on battle”, to quote Sebastian.
La Sagrada Familia was shot in 3 days in 35mm, a true indie film. It was a sort of “punk” film and it met with great success and so Sebastian could access national funds to make his second film Navidad which along with some private investment was finally paid off two months ago. Navidad was about teenage runaways going through a sort of initiation into the carney world. He directed Year of the Tiger just after Chile’s major earthquake and Fabula put in the money ($100,000) for this urgent film. It is a testament to the Year Zero and was shot in 12 days. It went on to play Toronto and Locarno. These are all available along with interviews on Festival Scope.
The year 2005 was the year that a new generation of filmmakers was beginning to create Chilean cinema as we know it today. Not only Sebastian Lelio withLa Sagrada Familia, but the producer of Gloria and Year of the Tiger, Fabula’s Pablo Larrain (along with his brother Juan de Dios Larrain) was developing his breakout film, Tony Manero and had just finished Fuga. Pablo also wrote and directed Post Mortem , produced El año del tigre , produced and directed No and produced this year’s Sundance hit Crystal Fairy. It was Diego Izquierdo whose Sexo con Amor we were repping who brought us to Valdivia that year as he was working on El rey de los huevones . It was the year En la Cama by Matias Bizes ( La vida de los peces ) was the most popular film in Chile and films were finally breaking from the post-Pinochet trauma. The “other Sebastian”, Sebastian Silva, was the inspiration behind the writers of Mala Leche and La Sagrada Familia, and was writing the first film he would also direct, La vida me mata (Life Kills Me).
Gloria was such a fine work of art that it was developed in the Cannes Residency (Cinefondation) program and garnered national funds for its production. It was screened as a Work in Progress first in Chile’s Sanfic and then in San Sebastian in 2012 where it won the Cine in Construccion Award. Sebastian has recently received a Guggenheim fellowship and support of the Daad Berliner Kunstlerprogram for the development of his new projects.
To be witness to Chile’s spectacular growth in the international business gives me such a thrill. I can’t wait to see Sebastian’s next film which he is working on now in the Berlinale Residency (September – December), writing it with an eye toward co-production. The new film explores masculine emotions. Perhaps it will once again star Paulina Garcia.
Gloria
Directed by: Sebastián Lelio
Tiff 2013 - Special Presentation
Chile - 109 minutes - In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Paulina García
Producer: Fabula - Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín
Tiff 2013: Special Presentation
U.S. Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Canadian Distributor: Mongrel Media
The film will be released by Roadside Attractions and is being sold internationally by Funny Balloons, who has already sold it to
Australia
Rialto Distribution (Australia)
Austria
Thimfilm Gmbh
Brazil
Imovision
Canada
Métropole Films Distribution
Colombia
Babilla Cine
France
Funny Balloons
Germany
Alamode Film
Greece
Strada Films
Israel
New Cinema Ltd.
Italy
Lucky Red
Japan
Respect
Korea (South)
Pancinema
Netherlands
Wild Bunch Benelux
Portugal
Alambique
Sweden
Atlantic Film Ab
Switzerland
Filmcoopi Zurich Ag
Turkey
Bir Film
United Kingdom
Network
USA
Roadside Attractions...
- 9/17/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Peripheral Produce, the Portland, Or based underground film DVD distributor is having a major sale this summer, offering many of their discs for just $10.
Most of Peripheral’s products are compilation DVDs featuring the work of either a single artist or multiple filmmakers. Some of the discounted offerings include:
Naomi Uman: Milking and Scratching
Includes films: Leche, Mala Leche, Private Movie, Removed, and Hand Eye Coordination.
Matt McCormick: From Tugboats to Polar Bears
Includes films: Towlines (2004), Grounded (2004), American Nutria (2003), Past and Pending (2003), The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2001), Going to the Ocean (2001), The Vyrotonin Decision (1999) and Sincerely, Joe P. Bear (1999).
Deborah Stratman: Something Like Flying
Includes films: In Order Not To Be Here, Kings of the Sky, and From Hetty to Nancy.
The Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape
Includes films: Truth in Advertising by Negativland, Atlanta by Miranda July, Battles on the Astral Plane by Jon Raymond, Slow...
Most of Peripheral’s products are compilation DVDs featuring the work of either a single artist or multiple filmmakers. Some of the discounted offerings include:
Naomi Uman: Milking and Scratching
Includes films: Leche, Mala Leche, Private Movie, Removed, and Hand Eye Coordination.
Matt McCormick: From Tugboats to Polar Bears
Includes films: Towlines (2004), Grounded (2004), American Nutria (2003), Past and Pending (2003), The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2001), Going to the Ocean (2001), The Vyrotonin Decision (1999) and Sincerely, Joe P. Bear (1999).
Deborah Stratman: Something Like Flying
Includes films: In Order Not To Be Here, Kings of the Sky, and From Hetty to Nancy.
The Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape
Includes films: Truth in Advertising by Negativland, Atlanta by Miranda July, Battles on the Astral Plane by Jon Raymond, Slow...
- 7/18/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
MADRID -- The 52nd San Sebastian International Film Festival on Tuesday announced its lineup of 10 films in the Horizontes Latino sidebar, the section that has become obligatory for those interested in the latest films from Latin America. While six different countries are represented, the section is a clear tribute to the burgeoning Argentine cinema industry, which has a production role in six of the 10 titles. Sergio Belloti's Your Life for Peron (Argentina) will premiere worldwide as part of the Horizontes section. The political tale will compete for the 18,000 ($21,700) Horizontes Award against Paolo Agazzi's El Atraco (Bolivia-Spain) and Pablo Jose Meza's Buenos Aires, 100 Km. (Argentina-France). Juan Taratuto's melodramatic comedy It's Not You, It's Me (Argentina-Spain) and Marcos Bernstein's The Other Side of the Street (Brazil-France), starring Raul Cortez and Fernanda Montenegro, will also vie for the prize. Other titles included in the section are: Sebastian Cordero's Cronicas (Ecuador-Mexico-Spain), Leon Errazuriz's Mala Leche (Chile), Santiago Palavecino's Another Turn (Argentina), Ana Poliak's Pin Boy (Argentina-Belgium) and Fernan Rudnik's Little Village (Argentina).
- 8/25/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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