“A thriller where horror is reality.” With that phrase he began to promote himself invisible storiesthe new film by Guillermo Navarro performed by a cast that includes Eleonora WexlerAntonella Ferrari, Vanesa González, Pablo Pinto, Pablo Tolosa and Mariano Bertolini, among others. The theatrical release will be on June 6 and the phrase, tragically, is very accurate because the film addresses the problem of human trafficking and is inspired by real stories that occurred in Argentina.
When Navarro began writing the script he was not in the country, but he read news related to this topic in the press. That’s how the idea appeared. The plot presents two stories separated by several kilometers that, at some point, come together. Two girls are kidnapped by the same organization: Cecilia (Ferrari) is barely 16 years old and comes from a poor family in Catamarca, she lives with her father and brother and is attracted by a boyfriend older than her; Paula, 18, is a middle-class girl who lives in Mendoza with her mother and is violently kidnapped when she leaves her house to go to a medical appointment. Jorge (Tolosa), Cecilia’s father, loses hope of finding her due to the lack of cooperation from the police until he receives a call from her daughter and decides to make a 2,000-kilometer trip to rescue her. Graciela (Wexler), Paula’s mother, from the first minute goes out to visit brothels and faces the violence that circulates in those clubs because justice does not respond.
Wexler is the mother of a 20-year-old girl who was 18 at the time of filming the film, that is, the same age as her daughter in fiction. When asked what it was like to face this character emotionally as a mother, she says: “In this case it was difficult for me. Generally, I usually separate without problems, but in many moments I felt that I could get involved to a certain extent because, beyond being very committed, it was difficult for me. I think I discovered this only when I saw myself. I have a daughter of the same age and it was something unimaginable when I got into it, I understood that there was a limit. , I thought. And I also understood that I couldn’t turn to another place because it was too close.”
The actress comments that she took some real cases as triggers – that of Susana Trimarco and her tireless fight to know the whereabouts of her daughter – but clarifies that what she had closest at hand was “the feeling of being a mother, nothing more and nothing less.” . Wexler defines this production as a testimonial fiction and adds that “these stories have a plus, they arrive in another way and can contribute to education, because the idea is that they can be projected in schools and foundations to generate awareness among adolescents.”
–The film tells stories of two social classes that end up being the same, because The complicities of the Police and the Judiciary push the parents to take charge of the search, right?
Eleonora Wexler: –Yes, when I read the script I found it interesting to see how these people from different worlds and social strata had a point in common. There are three stories in which exactly the same thing happens to the protagonists and they become prisoners of a system of corruption from which they cannot escape. My character takes that pain and turns it into a fight to save other girls, transforming the anguish into something collective. She is a fighter and all the libido is put in that place, but the families are crossed by the same pain.
–¿What power does fiction have when it comes to addressing these issues? They are usually narrated from journalism, but here it is a police thriller.
Guillermo Navarro: –It’s strange because I come from a family of journalists and at some point I said “I want to do fiction.” I had a period in which I made several documentaries in refugee camps in the Sahara, with street children in Brazil, I covered hurricanes and natural disasters. There was always a love for fiction, but apparently that social perspective stuck with me because all the stories that have occurred to me so far have some social approach. I’m trying to change that: my next script will be a love story, because these are very intense themes. I think that as viewers we project ourselves on the screen, we like the characters because we find something that identifies us, so we enter into that game of believing and accepting the story that is told to us. I was always fascinated by art.
During the press conference, Navarro said that when testing the film with viewers from different parts of the world, some asked him if it was the story of a Mexican activist and others mentioned a woman from Thailand who had freed several girls from treats her. “There I realized that this happens everywhere, there are heroines everywhere in the world.” During the talk with Page 12adds: “The only thing that caught my attention is that many times people come up to me and ask me if the Justice and the Police are so bad in Argentina. I don’t know if it is worse here or in other places that is hidden.” Better yet, maybe they don’t want to see it. I hope the film challenges people, even us, who have absolutely nothing to do with it and yet we allow this to happen just around the corner.”
invisible stories proposes a story with nuances: the most interesting character to see these contradictions is perhaps that of Ringo (played by Pinto), a pimp who at the beginning is seen interacting with his daughters in the role of father of the family. He also sets up complex debates regarding the figure of the client and abolitionism. “The film is controversial, it leaves open the possibility that everyone can ask themselves how this ends, in what way. In short, it is a business and, if it ends, it ends for all those who are involved in that mafia circle. “says Wexler. The director, for his part, assures: “I don’t dare to judge a girl who is dedicated to prostitution because I don’t have the moral stature to do so. I do feel empowered to raise a finger against someone who exploits women or men, because there is also labor trafficking in textile workshops or plantations, but it is not something that is so visible that a human being takes advantage of another and places them in a position of servitude to profit is something horrible.
Wexler celebrates the screening and assures: “Being able to premiere a film today is something that makes me proud because Guillermo did it alone and on his own with Sofía Toro Pollicino (producer) at the Audiovisual Pole of Mendoza.” Asked about the current situation of the INCAA, she responds: “It is very worrying. Surely a review of the policies can be carried out, but not defund and throw away everything that was built in terms of human rights, politics, culture. I can share with conciliation, but I cannot share anything with a government that promotes aggression and violence.
