Set in the mid-19th century, the short film conceived by the Aristobul native Lautaro Contepomi It immerses itself in border stories to rescue the memory of African migrants, who escaped from slave systems in the Brazilian south. Graduated as a Technician in Audiovisual Media and Photography from the Faculty of Art and Design of Oberá (UNaM), the director began to investigate the subject as part of the workshops on Writing Documentary Projects taught by Hector Jacquet at Oberá in Shorts 2017.
After several years of working on the consolidation of the project, “Somos Makako” was filmed between Wednesday, April 17 and Friday, April 19 in Panambí and Aristóbulo del Valle, with a missionary technical team that included Guillermo Rovira in the Photography Direction, Camila Acosta as Assistant Director, Leticia Alvarez in the Direction of Art and Costumes, Juan Ferreira was Head of Production and Micaela Neremberg, Production Assistant, among others. In turn, it stars Luana Alcantre, Micaela Chavez, Angel Grezak and Guido Contepomi.
The short film was one of those selected by the Uruguay District in the 2023 Call “Fiction, Non-Fiction and Animation Short Film Projects” of the Institute of Audiovisual Arts of Misiones (IAAviM), granting contributions of 2.5 million pesos for its realization; resources that are invested in work to preserve identity and enrich the regional cultural heritage.
Regarding the importance of the narrative that inspires the film, Contepomi pointed out that “it is important to rescue the Afro-descendant presence in the province and in the country because it represents a very great influence on our history, our culture. As a result of invisibility and whitewashing policies, they were relegated from ‘official history’. In the 2022 census, it emerged that 3.1% of the population perceives themselves as Afro-descendant in Misiones, and I believe that it is a statistic that can continue to grow from work like this or with all the struggle that the Afro-descendant community has been carrying out.” .
With resources that combine fictionalization with documentary, projects like “Somos Makako” have the particularity of being an instrument of memory, protection, registration and documentation about a reality or experiential processes of a community. Regarding IAAviM’s support for the project, Contepomi points out: “It is essential to have an Institute that is so present and that allows you to tell such diverse stories, especially in a political and economic context like the one we are going through. Not only for the economic support for the sector but also for providing a space for listening and support to solve different problems and provide solutions. Also to grow as a sector and continue positioning Misiones as one of the main provinces that represent Argentine cinema.”
On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the sanction of Law VI 171 on Audiovisual Promotion of Misiones, “Somos Makako” stands as an example of how to energize local cultural stories. Based on the discovery of an African great-grandfather, Contepomi rediscovers the arrival of African migratory flows to the region, which occurred after 1500 and after the Guaraní settlements. In turn, the story of Nélida Wisneke (co-screenwriter) recounts the arrival of African migrants to the San Pedro area, around the year 1860: “This movie is inspired by the novel ‘Don’t forget those of us who stay’ from Nélida, so it is also a project that we started together. Héctor Jaquet always said that the best film is the one that comes out stained with blood, from the inside, and that phrase for me is a legacy and a great truth that has driven me for years along with some ancestors like my great-grandfather. In this case, I believe that this is the main tool I have to address these stories, that ancestral impulse that is born from the depths,” stated the young missionary director.
**Photos from the shoot: We thank the production of the short film Somos Makako for the images
