“No tengo dogma, más que para la libertad. Si hay libertad, puedo hacer lo que sea” (I have no dogma except freedom. With freedom I can do anything).
Mexico is bubbling with talent. In the last few years, it has produced a number of hugely gifted filmmakers, not least Guillermo del Toro (Labyrinth), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Alejandro G Iñarritú (Amores Perros. Babel), writers like Guillermo Arriaga and actors like Gael García Bernal to mention just a few. Each one very different, in content and style. There are no formulaic productions here. Each director is fiercely independent, and Lila Avilés has emerged from the same creative cauldron.
Naíma Sentiés as Sol
In TÓTEM, seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentiés) is at her grandfather’s home helping her aunts Nuri (a superb Montserrat Castañon) and Alejandra (Marisol Gasé) prepare a surprise party for Sol’s father Tonatiuh (Mateo García Elizondo) who is very ill. At the party, everyone deals with the tensions in their own way and Sol begins to understand that her world will change forever. (see review at https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/totem-2023-mexican-writerdirector-lila-aviles )
Founding her own production company Limerencia Films has helped Avilés maintain control of her material, content and how she chooses to express it. This is of huge importance to her: -
“I knew that I wanted to keep TÓTEM close. I didn’t want to develop it through workshops with other people. Even so, I did work, once again, with Beatríz Novaro, the great Mexican playwright, but I felt that the closer I could keep this film to me, the better… if not, it’s easy to lose the essence and what one considers to be the most authentic elements.
The main theme of TÓTEM is very important in my life, because the most important thing that exists for me is my daughter, so we could say that I wanted to do something special for her. She went through that bereavement and I thought I would like to find a path that was important for her. It has been very moving because now she’s in her adolescence, so in a way, I brought out this film at the right moment for her, because it is a time when communication is difficult, and this experience has really helped and we are more united than ever.
… Limerencia Films is a hyper small film production company, and it is exhausting to also be the producer. Obviously, I dream of a day when it will grow and I will not only produce my own films, but will also be able to support other directors who are taking interesting paths. Even though it’s tiring, producing my own work] gives me a great deal of freedom and as I am such a ‘control freak’ I imagine I will always continue to produce!”
Avilés never actually studied film making. She started out doing drama, but then life got in the way: -
“I studied drama for one year but then I got pregnant, quit and started to work. I worked in many different departments, Make-up, Art Director, Actor, Costume, before I moved onto second assistant director, assistant director and then production. I worked a lot in Theatre and Opera. But, above all, I prefer film. I do really love theatre, because I feel it is beautiful, but is in film that I feel happiest, most fulfilled and at home.”
La Camarista ( 2018) was Avilés’ first film. (https://www.latinolife.co.uk/articles/chambermaid-dir-lila-aviles). Loosely based on a previous theatrical play she had written, she transformed it, co-writing the screenplay with Juan Carlos Marquéz. It is an intimate and almost introspective study of the life of a chambermaid in a huge five-star hotel. Fighting to keep her little family together, she faces discrimination, abuse from guests who expect more from her than a cleaner for their room. The opening scene sees her faced with a room in total chaos. She conscientiously starts to tidy up the mess and discovers a comatose person sleeping under the heap, throwing her into an almost surrealistic world. Avilés’ gaze takes us deep into the psyche of Eve (Gabriela Cartol) right into the emotive heart of the story and we are gripped. It is no surprise that this film garnered 13 awards and 33 nominations.
“I love writing, but it can be heart-stopping! It’s beautiful, but it can be a very long and complex process, such as I have had with my two films. TÓTEM emerged from a personal experience. My daughter lost her father when she was seven years old, but, well, once I started to write out the characters, it all changed immensely. Initially, there was a closeness [to the origin of the story] that was genuine, but the marvellous thing is that later, it begins to take on a life of its own.
The experience of working with the two girls was marvellous. These two girls are extraordinary, full of life and beauty, light, love and energy as they are at the heart of the movement of life, and there, we find ourselves wanting to accompany them [on that journey]. I wanted them to be natural because sometimes, I have the feeling that children are trying to act as children, so, sometimes, trying to make them to feel at ease and natural is complicated. What has been particularly moving about TOTEM is that people find it connects to their personal histories, so it is very beautiful to see how this film reaches its audiences.”
Montserrat Castañon and Saori Gurza as Nuri and Esther in Tótem
Avilés is all about flexibility and an organic approach to both writing and directing. Having worked as an actor, however, when she directs, the characters remain key.
“Naturally, as a director, I would like to have lots of time for rehearsals, but with Tótem, I had none. At most, we had about three weeks before starting to shoot. Basically, it ended up being sporadic, as there were so many characters, so that, in the end, it was more about connecting than much else. Also, in all my work, I concentrate on the acting elements. Above all, I want everyone to feel at ease and confident that they’re in good hands. At times I improvise, but at others, I follow the script to the letter, so, in the end it is a question of balance.”
Avilés has chosen to keep a number of her crew that she worked with on LA CAMARISTA, although she does not feel that change is a bad thing.
“I had already worked with some of the crew before, like the sound designer, Argentine Guido Berenblum, who was also on LA CAMARISTA [and known for his work with Lucrecia Martel]. I also kept the same editor, Omar Guzmán. Then I experimented a little with Diego Tenorio as the cinematographer, whom I love. We have become great friends, and the work we achieved between us, was precious. Apart from being a superb photographer, he is a person that inspires huge confidence, which was key. …In the end, what’s wonderful is to have the possibility, as a director, to work again with some people, but also, to have the chance to change… change formats and open possibilities. Filming is such a ferocious process that, in the end, it’s like a marriage!
Being Latina American, Lila Avilés has found some of her main influences to also be Latin.
“My influences number in the millions, but being a Latina myself, I have to say Lucrecia Martel figures strongly. She’s been, for Latin America and for the world, a film maker, director and woman of huge importance, not only because of her films but for who she is. Just listen to any of her interviews and she’s quite extraordinary. There’s a universe in each interview. In other ways, I also think a lot about Agnés Varda. She is another director that represents a dream in my life, to become like her, who, despite reaching her 80s, is still full of the wonder and the desire to search out and tell stories. Among other directors I admire is, of course, John Cassavettes who, for me, laid the foundations for so much, with a particular gaze that I really love.”
But Lila Avilés is not sitting on her laurels and has begun to work on her third film. This time she is finding the writing easier and finds that she is prepared to work using workshops and other people’s inputs, so we should expect a very different offering next time around. We wish her well
TÓTEM at selected cinemas from December 1st 2023. Find your nearest screening here
Writer/Director Lila Avilés/ Producers: Lila Avilés, Tatiana Graullera, Louise Riousse / DOP Diego Tenorio/ Editor Omar Guzmán/ Sounrd Design Guido Berenblum / Music Thomas Becka/ Production Design Nohemi González Martínez/ Casting Gabriela Cartol and Lila Avilés
Cast: Sol Naíma Sentiés/ Nuri Monterrat Marañon/ Esther Saori Gurza/ Tonatiuh Mateo García Elizondo/ Roberto (Grandpa) Alberto Amador/ Napo Juan Francisco Maldonado
