Madrigal is a beautiful film with a spectacular photography, metaphysics, a Magritte-style piece; a French painter Fernando is very fond of. Direction of photography is by Raúl Pérez Ureta, music is by Edesio Alejandro. They all work wonderfully.

By: Melvis Sarduy Castellanos
09/13/2006


Renowned film maker Fernando Pérez carrying his backpack can be seen and easily approached in the streets of Havana for he’s a carefree man who likes to go unnoticed but kindly greets anyone that smiles at him just as portrays Italian director Anna Assenza´s 18-minute-short length film to be presented at Havana Cinema Festival. It also features the work of Fernando Pérez and other Cuban performers.

Motivations

“ What inspired me to film Suite Madrigal was Fernando Pérez´ last movie and the interest that the one in process arose in me.

“ Hotel Nacional de Cuba hosted a press conference on Suite Habana and being in attendance I asked Fernando Pérez whether he would allow anyone to film him and his every-day life in Havana to what he replied almost carelessly " it has to be checked out... but I had my hopes, nonetheless. Then two months later I saw him and repeated my proposal at the time the film Madrigal was a project. Just then he accepted.

" He’s such a humble creature that would not at all accept a film entirely documented on his work. Then I remembered Suite Habana focused residents of his dear Havana City, from where he drew non-professional natural artists to play all the film’s roles of common people. The main idea is to describe a performer’s routine life as a film director and the performers teaming with him”.

Much with a little

" It’s an 18-minute-short-length film made with economy of resources co-produced by the Spanish Embassy in Cuba and Centre Martin Luther King. Suite Madrigal’s reduced line-up is composed of Roberta Butte, Luis Valdés, Tupac Pinilla, Anna Bolena and Marcos Louit as the film co-authors.

" I won’t detail the film because Suite Madrigal premiers at Havana Cinema Festival in December and I want to surprise the public, but let me tell you in advance it shows a visible similarity between the life of a successful film maker and that of common people. That’s why he can understand them so well and deeply.

" I don’t consider Cuba as a Third-World country. I think that Fernando wrapped in his humbleness and way of life is able to lead a humble life due to his coherence, what I like very much. I did not enhance poverty. It’s none of my business. I think Cuba is not poor. To me poverty is not shortage but something else. Poverty is the lack of soul and the lack of heart. In this sense, Cuba is richer than industrially developed countries”.

Living for art

" In the short-length film I intend that people can see the love a man like Fernando feels toward cinema as much as the love that the staff working with him feel toward art, homeland, ‘own home’ and properties, the love they fell for each other as worker performers, something that does not happen, for example, in Europe, where a film director is an untouchable creature; drives his own car to go to work, has an assistant and everything.

" I love describing and showing where Fernando Pérez takes out culture and history he knows from….he loves walking out in the streets first of all because he does not have a car of his own. However he does not make a problem out of it. He feels a great love for his homeland and that’s what I want to show the world.

" But also to make known how Madrigal came to be filmed. Of course not telling the difficulties faced nor the lack of resources and things like that but showing that despite the existing blockade imposed to Cuba and despite many other problems the island is subject to Cuba has a cinema and produces films.

“ This short-length film does not feature dialogues as in Suite Habana and the film’s director is heard moving in the set just once.

" I love the way cinema is developed in Cuba. And as amazing soprano María Callas said in one her texts; “ Cubans ‘vissi d’ arte, vissi d’ amore’ – Cubans live for art, live for love – that’s why I made Suite Madrigal”.

How about Madrigal?

"Madrigal is as you Cubans say; ‘on the point of syrupy’, all is coming up well and will be over by October.

" Madrigal is a beautiful film with a spectacular photography, metaphysics, a Magritte-style piece; a French painter Fernando is very fond of. Direction of photography is by a big figure Raúl Pérez Ureta, who always teams with Fernando as in the case of Vida es silvar and other movies, while music as you know already is by Edesio Alejandro. They all work wonderfully”.