Pablo César

Pablo César (; born 26 February 1962) is an Argentine film director, film producer, screenwriter and film professor. He began his filmmaking career in the Buenos Aires independent short film scene shot in the Super 8 format, making more than twenty works between the 1970s and 1980s, among which ''Del génesis'' (1980), ''Ecce civitas nostra'' (1984)—co-directed with Jorge Polaco—and ''Memorias de un loco'' (1985) stand out. In 1983, César directed his first feature film ''De las caras del espejo'', shot in Super-8. He turned to the 35 mm film format from his second feature onwards, ''La sagrada familia'' (1988), an ironic film that works as a critique of the abuse of power, as well as an allegory of the era of the last civic-military dictatorship in Argentina.

César has been a pioneer in developing co-productions between his country and nations in Africa and South Asia. He is the first Argentine director to film co-productions with India, and the only Latin American filmmaker who has directed co-productions with African countries, among them Tunisia, Benin, Mali, Angola, Namibia, Ethiopia, Morocco and Ivory Coast. His first co-productions were the so-called "trilogy of triumphs", inspired by ancient Sufi poems and texts on different mythologies. It is formed by the films ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas'' (1991), ''Unicornio, el jardín de las frutas'' (1996) and ''Afrodita, el jardín de los perfumes'' (1998), filmed in Tunisia, India and Mali, respectively.

In 1994, he released ''Fuego gris'', a film with no dialogues that features 17 original compositions by Luis Alberto Spinetta, the only soundtrack in the musician's career. It was followed by the films ''Sangre'' (2003)—in which he veered towards a more realistic and autobiographical style— and ''Hunabkú'' (2007), shot in El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier. César continued to make co-productions on the African continent throughout the 2010s, filming ''Orillas'' (2011) in Benin, ''Los dioses del agua'' (2014) in Angola and Ethiopia, ''El cielo escondido'' (2016) in Namibia, and ''El llamado del desierto'' (2018) in Morocco. His film ''Pensando en él'' (2018) was the second co-production between Argentina and India, and depicts the meeting between Rabindranath Tagore and Victoria Ocampo in 1924. The director's most recent film is ''El día del pez''—the first co-production between Argentina and Ivory Coast—which closes a trilogy made up of ''Los dioses de agua'' and ''El cielo escondido''.

César's work—entirely produced in film format— is considered an exponent of independent and ''auteur'' cinema, characterized by its poetic, symbolic and contemplative use of the cinematographic language. The content of his films is influenced by his studies on the mythology, ethnology and ethnography of various countries, exploring themes such as postcolonialism, the legacy of African philosophy and cosmogony, the ties between the East and the West, the impact of the Afro-descendant community in Argentina, and the challenging of the traditional representations of Africa and India. César is a proponent of the so-called "South-South Cooperation" (Spanish: ''Cooperación Sur-Sur''), promoting modes of production, distribution and dissemination of films from the Global South that contrast with the mainstream trends. He has been awarded at various film festivals throughout his career, including the BFI London Film Festival, the Huy Film Festival, the Figueira da Foz International Film Festival, the Amiens International Film Festival, and the NiFF Houston Int'l Film Festival. He has been a jury member of several international festivals, including the International Film Festival of India (in 2007 and 2021), the Kélibia International Film Festival, the Carthage Film Festival, the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, the Amiens International Film Festival and Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma. César has been a university professor at Buenos Aires' Universidad del Cine since 1992, being one of the first teachers of the institution.

Life and career

1962–1982: Early life and beginnings in the Super 8 format

Pablo César was born on 26 February 1962 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At age 6, he began to make comic books, learning through a mail course as there were no schools where to train. Between the ages of 10 and 13, César edited the ''Patatus'' newsletter, selling it at his primary school and even at some local newsstands. In 1975, his older brother José gave him a Super 8 film camera and, since then, he constantly recorded family scenes for two years. Four years later, José died in an accident. In a 2017, César noted the significance of that gift:

It allowed me many things because my adolescence was stolen by the dictatorship, I was 12 years old and a few months after my brother gave me the camera, at the end of 1975, the country was transformed and that was a weapon where I turned my dreams, my nightmares. With all the ignorance on how to narrate a film, since everything was prohibited, there were no film schools, except for the one in Avellaneda, but during 1979 my mother did not want me to travel there because they stopped you all the time, there was nothing, you had to go out and film.

César took his first steps as a filmmaker in the independent short film scene shot in Super-8. Encouraged by his brother José, he made his first short film ''La diversión del rey'' (8-minute animation) in 1975, at the age of 13. In 1977, he filmed 7 titles: ''Lúgubre venganza'' (7-minute fiction), ''Aventuras en el reino'' (12-minute animation), ''El espiritista'' (45-minute fiction), ''El caso Mandrox'' (15-minute fiction) and ''El medallón'' (12-minute fiction). In 1979, he shot ''Objeto de percepción'' (12-minute fiction), ''La máquina'' (18-minute fiction), ''La viuda negra'' (15-minute fiction), ''Itzengerstein'' (18-minute fiction) and ''La visión de Ezequiel'' (10-minute fiction).

In those years it was not easy to film in the street, so César resorted to parks or holiday houses. In addition, the only space that existed dedicated to independent short films was the Unión de Cineastas de Paso Reducido (UNCIPAR), which each Saturday organized meetings at the headquarters of Unione e Benevolenza, in Buenos Aires. There, film debates took place and some short films were screened, of which one was voted to be in the finals. César's first film to compete in the UNCIPAR contest was ''La máquina'', followed by ''Itzengerstein''.

In 1980, he directed the films ''Apocalipsis'' (7-minute experimental film), ''Del génesis'' (8-minute fiction-experimental film) and ''Black Sabath'' (16-minute fiction). ''Del génesis'' was the first film with which César began to win awards. In 1980, he won first prize in the experimental category of the Ateneo Foto-Cine Rosario, a mention for best editing and third prize (without category) in the Mar del Plata Filmmakers Circle contest, and a special mention in UNCIPAR. In 1981, ''Black Sabbath'' was exhibited at the meeting of the International Union of Amateur Cinema (UNICA).

1983–1989: ''De las caras del espejo'' and ''La sagrada familia''

César made his first feature film, ''De las caras del espejo'' (shot in Super 8), in 1983. The film won first prize in the youth category at UNICA. That same year, ''De las caras del espejo'' also received the prize for Best Photography at the Jornadas Argentinas de Cine No Profesional, carried out by UNICPAR in the city of Villa Gesell. In 1986, he studied Semiology and Semiotics of Cinema at the University of Paris VIII in Saint-Denis, France.

In 1985, the films ''De las caras del espejo'' and ''Memorias de un loco'' (35-minute fiction based on " Diary of a Madman" by Nikolai Gogol) were exhibited for the public at the General San Martín Cultural Center, Buenos Aires. That year, he presented his films ''De las caras del espejo'', ''Ecce civitas nostra'' (15-minute documentary co-directed with Jorge Polaco) and ''Memorias de un loco'' at the Union of Filmmakers of Moscow, in the Soviet capital, later traveling to Kutaisi, Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia, to take part in the Film Festival for Children and Youth held by the Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization.

In 1986, César toured Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic, where he exhibited ''De las caras del espejo'' and the short films ''Del génesis'', ''Ecce civitas nostra'', and ''Memorias de un loco''. That year, ''De las caras del espejo'' was awarded the bronze medal at the 30th London Film Festival and the Silver Palm at the 26th Huy World Film Festival, in the Belgian city. On the occasion of the official visit of President Raúl Alfonsín to the Soviet Union in October 1986, the films ''Ecce civitas nostra'' and ''Memorias de un loco'' were shown on television in the country. Also in 1986, César worked as assistant director of Jorge Polaco in the film ''Diapasón'', also doing it a year later for ''En el nombre del hijo''.

In September 1987, César began shooting ''La sagrada familia'', his second feature film but the first shot in 35mm format, with a script by Juan Carlos Vezzulla. The film was shot for the most part in an abandoned silo in the port area of Buenos Aires, with exteriors filmed in other locations on the outskirts of the city. ''La sagrada familia'' was released commercially in Argentina on July 1, 1988. In 1988, it received the Jury Prize at the International Film Festival of Figueira da Foz, Portugal. It was also presented at the International Week of Author Film in Málaga, Spain, in May 1989, where it received the Audience Award for Best Film. In Argentina, ''La sagrada familia'' competed at the 1988 First Film Festival of Bariloche, where it won awards for Best Male Performance (Ariel Bonomi), Best Camera Work (Oscar López), and Best Scenography (Ramiro Cesio). López and Cesio were once again awarded at the Film Festival of Santa Fe. In 1989, La sagrada familia received the award for Best First Feature at the Lauro Sin Cortes Awards, organized by the ''Sin Cortes'' film magazine.

In 1989, César served as artistic advisor to Jorge Polaco for the film '' Kindergarten''. From July 29 to August 5 of that year, the director was part of the official jury of the Kélibia International Film Festival, Tunisia, where he screened ''La sagrada familia'' out of competition. At the conclusion of the festival's activities, César was one of the signatories of the Manifesto for the Dissemination of Independent Short Films together with the filmmakers Laurent Huet (France), Denis Laplante (Canada), Michel Lomet (Belgium), Darvish Hayatu (Iran), Michel Ionascu (France), Richard Kaplan (USA), Idriss Diabaté (Ivory Coast), Viola Shafik (Germany), Nick Deocampo (Philippines) and Taoufik Abid (Tunisia), among others. This document was distributed to the official authorities of the countries of the signatories, demanding the presence of independent films in broadcast spaces such as cinema and television. This visit to Tunisia was César's first trip to the African continent and from there the idea of making a film in co-production between both countries was born.

1990–2002: The "trilogy of triumphs" and ''Fuego gris''

In 1990, César signed a co-production contract with Tunisia to film the film ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas'', becoming the first Latin American director to direct a co-production on the African continent. Filming took place between July and August of that year, in the Tunisian towns of Mahdia, La Chebba, Matmata, El Djem and the island of Djerba. In 2014, César reflected on the experience:

It was my first step in something that I had not imagined would happen: co-productions with African nations. I remember when I entered the souks of Tunis. They had an arch at the entrance. On the way out I passed by the side without realizing it and stopped. I noticed that I had come out somewhere else and then I wondered if I had really been able to get out of that magnetizing universe.

The Argentine premiere of ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas'' coincided with the opening of the Tunisian Embassy in Buenos Aires in April 1991. Interviewed by the newspaper '' La Prensa'', the Chargé d'Affaires commissioned for the opening of the embassy, Hassine Souki, declared: "Culture already unites us through an agreement signed in 1968 that has borne multiple fruits, the last of which is the cinema, through the recently known co-production of ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas'', by Pablo César.

Between 1991 and 1993, César was a professor at the Sergei Eisenstein film school of the Argentine Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR (SARCU), where he had studied Russian. SARCU was closed as a result of the dissolution of the USSR in 1990, and César resumed teaching in 1992 after the founding of the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, of which he was one of the first professors and continues to teach until today.

César's third 35mm feature film was ''Fuego gris'', whose screenplay he wrote together with Gustavo Viau.Manrupe & Portela , 1995. p. 238 For the soundtrack of the film, César contacted famous musician Luis Alberto Spinetta, proposing that he provide him with the rights to some songs and, if he wished, that he compose some for the film. Spinetta felt that it was not appropriate to use old songs because "they had been made for other purposes" and, instead, offered César to compose the music for the entire film, based on the already written script. In his biography of Spinetta, the journalist Sergio Marchi noted the novelty that this meant for the musician's career: "It is curious that, precisely, Spinetta, an artist to whom no one could ever put conditions, agreed to work with a new body of songs that must fit the constraint of a script. Those seventeen songs would make up one of the most irregular albums by an irregular artist: ''Fuego gris'' could work as a sequel to ''Pelusón of milk'', and in some way repeats its structure, although slightly altered."

''Fuegro gris'' was shot in 1993 in Buenos Aires, with some scenes filmed in Cape Verde. In a televised interview during the shooting of the film, César explained:

It is the first time pinettadoes this in Argentine cinema. I took the project to him, I didn't know him personally. I showed him ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas'', a co-production that I did with Tunisia in 1990, which was my second feature film. He really liked that project, he keeps saying that for him it is a very daring film (...). And from then on, with the script... Even he participated in the script. I don't want to say that he is a screenwriter, he gave us ideas in the script of the movie. And we started working out where each song was going. Because it is not that there is a song that tells what is happening (...), if that was the case, another musician and another director should do it. The idea of the lyrics is that they are very poetic, very strong, that Spinetta is writing...

For the ''Fuego gris'' poster, César and Spinetta contacted the artist Ciruelo Cabral, whose illustration was also used for the cover of the soundtrack, released by Polydor Records in 1994. The film was presented at the 1994 edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana and the International Film Festival of India (IFFI); and had its Argentine premiere at the Maxi cinema in Buenos Aires on August 26 of that year. It was one of the only five Argentine films that were released in 1994.

While in Calcutta presenting ''Fuego gris'' at IFFI (held 0–20 January 1994), César contacted Indian producers to find the location for his next film, ''Unicornio, el jardín de las frutas'', the second part of the so-called "trilogy of triumphs" that had begun with ''Equinoccio, el jardín de las rosas''. One of the co-production proposals he received was to shoot in the state of Karnataka, although its landscapes did not coincide with César's idea of having a more desert setting and golden colors. On the night of January 14, César was invited to the suite of the Taj Bengal Hotel in Calcutta where the Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni was staying, to have dinner with him, Pino Solanas and their respective wives. Antonioni recommended that he shoot ''Unicornio, el jardín de las frutas'' in the state of Rajasthan, as it suited the characteristics he was looking for. However, after the insistence of an Indian producer, César traveled to Karnataka and signed a co-production contract to film in that state. Due to non-compliance on the part of said Indian producer, César traveled to India again and contacted the director Murali Nair, signing a new co-production contract to shoot the film in Rajasthan. Filmed in and on the outskirts of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur, in the state of Rajasthan, ''Unicornio, el jardín de las frutas'' is the first co-production between Argentina and India. In an interview with César and Nair for '' Clarín'' on the occasion of the film's premiere, journalist Diego Lerer wrote:

He has arrived here (the newsroom) in the company of Murali Nair, a young Indian man who served as producer for India in this first co-production between the two countries. Nair was not the original producer of ''Unicornio'', on the Indian side, but the businessman who had closed a deal with Pablo César not only caused him many problems at first (as the director will refer to below) but later had the rudeness to die. Nice things happen on film. Especially if it's so many thousands of miles from home. But the director is already an expert in filming against all odds.

The last part of the "trilogy of triumphs" is ''Afrodita, el jardín de los perfumes'', released in 1998. The film was a co-production with Mali and was shot in a Dogon village called Na-Komo near Sangha, where the Bandiagara cliffs are; and in the town of Gao, in the northwest of the country. César traveled to Mali in January 1997 and met with the National Center for Cinematographic Production (CNPC) in the town of Hombori, presenting the project of ''Afrodita, el jardín de los perfumes'' to them. He returned to the African country on August 14, 1997, and signed the co-production contract with the CNPC in the city of Bamako, starting filming in May of the following year. Upon returning to Argentina, the material filmed in Gao never reached the director and he was forced to return to the Malian town to shoot the scenes of the film again. In order to cover the costs of reshooting the missing scenes, César decided to mortgage his office in the hope of support from the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA). On August 8, 1998, the director stated in an interview with Clarín: "When we arrived here (Argentina) we found that one of the packages had been lost, with 30% of the printed material. The airline says it's going to show up, but since it hasn't happened yet, I decided to go back there (to Mali) and shoot again. And since Argentine insurance does not cover these risks, I am more indebted than before."

2003–2011: ''Sangre'', ''Hunabkú'' and ''Orillas''

''Sangre'' is César's sixth 35mm feature film, with a script by him and his brother Mike. It was screened for the first time in November 2003 as part of the Official Competition of the Amiens International Film Festival, in the French city, where the protagonist Ivonne Fournery received the Best Actress Award. The film had its Argentine premiere on December 4, 2003.

His next film, ''Hunabkú'', was filmed in El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier, Santa Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia; carried out with the support of INCAA and the Municipality of El Calafate. The film was shot in September 2006, which complicated the sound direction as it was a windy month. Much of ''Hunabkú'' was filmed in dangerous conditions, due to the danger of walking on the glacier. In an interview with '' Los Andes'', the director commented on this: "Luckily there were no accidents. But there is a moment when Lucas (Arévalo), the protagonist, feels attracted by the icy water of the glacier and jumps into it without digital tricks. There were three repetitions of the scene and in two of them the glacier thundered and released a large piece of ice that produced giant waves." César explained how he managed to shoot on the glacier in an article for Kodak's ''In Camera'' magazine:

Argentine filmmaker Pablo César loves to shoot in risky conditions. He has directed films in the Sahara desert and in North India. His most recent production, ''Hunabkú'', was produced in Patagonia, with much of the action taking place on a glacier that rises 300 feet above the ocean. César asked cinematographer Abel Peñalba to join him on the adventure. The duo had previously collaborated on the feature film ''Sangre''. "When we did the exploration at the beginning of 2006, the glacier looked like an enormous white blanket capable of transmitting the necessary peace," says César. César decided early on that the film would be produced in 35mm format. "Despite the advances digital technology has made in recent years, I'm still not convinced by the results I've seen," he says. "Also, the cost of renting one of the really good digital cameras is very high, as is the cost of the transfer processes from digital to 35mm." In keeping with this approach, Peñalba used "normal" focal lengths and natural light, avoiding strong fill light where possible. On the glacier, he used only a smooth reflected fill to adjust the close-ups. He used the Academy 1.85 aspect ratio because he felt it was better suited to landscapes, choosing Kodak Vision 2 250D and Kodak Vision 2 500T film.

''Hunabkú'' premiered in Argentina in October 2007. The following month, the film was presented at the IFFI, held in the city of Goa, where César was also a member of the jury. ''Hunabkú'' also participated in the Biarritz Film Festival, the Cinemagic Film Festival in Belfast, the Amiens International Film Festival and the Pune International Film Festival in India.

In 2008, César made a trip to Benin together with the screenwriter Jerónimo Toubes, visiting the cities of Ganvié and Ouidah, in order to develop a film about the African roots in the population of Argentina. The following year, César returned to Benin accompanied by executive producer Pablo Ballester, signing a co-production contract with the Directorate of Cinematography of Benin. On February 26, 2010, filming began on the resulting film, ''Orillas'', with two weeks of filming in Sakété and another two in Ouidah, Ganvié and Porto-Novo. ''Orillas'' is Argentina's first film co-production with a sub-Saharan African country. On the occasion of the film, the Argentine Ambassador to Nigeria, Susana Pataro, wrote in September 2010: "Last November, when Pablo César visited the filming locations, we had the opportunity to accompany him on part of the tour of emblematic sites such as the town of Ouidah , from where thousands of slaves left for the Americas. Today it is a peaceful fishing port that can be reached from Cotonou, (...) after an hour's journey. Until you reach the small beach, you travel along the 'slave route' in a shocking journey of just over 2 km."

''Orillas'' combines two intertwined stories, one set in Benin and the other in Argentina. The filming of the Argentine portion took place in April 2010 and lasted 4 weeks, of which 2 took place entirely on Isla Maciel (neighborhood in Dock Sud). The Argentine cast of ''Orillas'' was a mix of professional actors—such as Javier Lombardo, Daniel Valenzuela

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