|
Even
while he worked in “I
started researching them and found the two survivors, Miguel Cancio and
Manuel Galban, and got their permission to do a film,” The
film, “LOS ZAFIROS-MUSIC FROM THE EDGE OF TIME”, which has its
second of three screenings at the Vancouver International film Festival
today, is an extremely moving documentary of the group, a vocal quartet
with a musical director. In the film, the last living singer, Cancio,
travels to That
meeting, and many that follow, are heartbreaking, so much so that
DeStefano occasionally felt like an intrude at an intimate family
gathering. “Miguel
is a very emotional guy. He doesn’t hide a lot, unlike a lot of men. We
screened the film a lot an people said, ‘Gee, it’s good but it’s
too much,’ and
we cut out some of the emotion-filled scenes. We used two cameras,
originally for the dance sequences but then also for the interviews, and
the interviews turned out to be scenes rather than interviews, which is
refreshing for a documentary. For
that scene where Minguelito meets Pupi, the brother of late singer El
Chino, and he plays the violin and breaks down, the camera ran out of
tape right when he broke down, but with two camera we got it.” The
film points out the importance music has in the lives of Cubans, and how
different generations share an interest in the same kind of music. When
the men make music in a park or coffee house they are surrounded by the
very old, the very young, and everyone in between. “That sequence in
the park was a clear example of an unorchestrated moment. People sung
“Ofelia”, one of the group’s hits, and they were from across the
spectrum. Their music is part of the history, and maybe some young
people think they’re uncool, but some of them think they are
awesome” DeStefano,
51, says his film evolved during the shooting. “It’s very easy to do
a film with still photographs and a voiceover. But it comes alive by
talking to the sisters and the brothers and the cousins and the
composers. We started out making a music film about a really cool group,
but it revealed itself as a piece that goes beyond music and has a theme
of loss. Here we have these two men, full of memory. And they’re
allowed to let it all out. The extent of my direction in the park scene,
for example, was just to get them to walk and remember. When Pupi cries
and Miguel tells him, “You’re making an ugly scene,” Pupi say,
“It’s not a scene if you really feel it,” that is such an
incredibly thought. If you’re a writer you’d win prizes for that
kind of stuff. |