Every Saturday in June at Malba (CABA) you can see The Changing of the Guard, by Martín Farina, which was established as the best feature film in the Argentine Competition in the latest edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (Bafici).
The film tells how a group of friends, 47 years after meeting each other, continue to keep their meetings alive, despite the political differences between them. In dialogue with diary TodayFarina told details of the proposal.
—Which of all the dimensions of the film is the one that you would most like people to take with them when they leave the theater? That of differences, of friendship, that of a trait that has always accompanied the country?
—How difficult. I think that between differences and friendship there is a core for each one to reflect and continue thinking. I am interested in that space “between”, more than one of the two options. May friendship and differences serve as something to reflect on us.
—How much fiction and reality is there in The Changing of the Guard?
—The fiction is a little determined by the form of editing and the narrative construction of Juan’s return, but there was no script, nor did I intervene in the discussions. At some points I made them sit in a particular chair, and things like that. Like arranging the bodies in space to have some better light and stuff.
—You released the film and won the Bafici in the midst of an adverse context for cinematographic activity, how did you experience this as a director?
—I like that a documentary that is humble in its workmanship and production scheme has been awarded. Because there is the work and the insistence. The context is horrible, I practically don’t know what to say. Because it is a mix of dystopia and apocalypse. So, let’s see what happens with this premiere.
