Esa otra selva blanca
Spanish premiere.
Introduction and Q&A with Teresa Arredondo (filmmaker) and Margot Mecca (film programmer).
Mourning for my father and absences combined with what remains. Collections, images, and sounds that are passed down. Letters written by birds that used to visit me as a child and now perch on our balcony. Those birds tell secrets to my son Simon as I watch him grow up.
The director's voice-over, which accompanies us through this map of affections shaped by her family genealogy, tells us that butterflies are bioindicators of the quality of ecosystems. That, after a fire, with the information they provide, it is possible to know how long a burned forest takes to recover. But how long does it take to get over grief? How can we measure that?
Perhaps a film can also be a unit of measurement, especially for things that have been lost. A short film, but one filled with objects, memories, notes, photographs, and atmospheres that bring the private life of Marcial —the director's father, who recently passed away— back to us. What remains of him is laid to rest in an image with his palms resting on the grass, exuding the skill and tact with which the Chilean filmmaker crafts her work. Skill and tact which allow her to perform the extraordinary — to unfold the wings of a pinned butterfly or to read a letter written by a bird.
With quiet reserve, Teresa Arredondo invites us to discover that other side, that other white jungle, venturing into the confines of grief guided by the curiosity of her son Simón who, in his interest in entomology, unknowingly writes a beautiful film for the future.
Antonio Miguel Arenas
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