Quand | When
17.07.2014 | 19h00-21h00
Où | Where
être
6029, Av Du Parc, Montréal [QC]
Média | Media
HD
En présence des cinéastes.
Billets | Tickets
Gratuit.
“In the last decade of Mexico’s resurgence as an international cinematic power, one of its most fascinating emerging independent filmmakers has been Matías Meyer.” – Carla Guerrero
The shooting of Wadley was a trip in more ways than one. Director Meyer and his small crew drove from Mexico City and spent four days shooting their 60 minute feature in the north central part of the Mexican desert. The consumption of small amounts of peyote figured into the creative process, the director said.
MATÍAS MEYER
Matías MEYER (b. 1979, Perpignan, France) studied film theory at the Sorbonne in Paris, and later entered the CCC (Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica) in Mexico City, where he graduated as film director with his short film Verde. His mid-length feature Wadley (2008) and his feature film The Cramp (2009) were shown in Rotterdam. The Last Christeros is his second full-length feature.
San Vicente de Chupaderos (2002, doc), El pasajero/The Passenger (2004, short), Verde (2006, short), Moros y cristianos/Moors and Christians (2007, doc), Wadley (2008, short), El calambre/The Cramp (2009), Los últimos cristeros/The Last Christeros (2011)
WADLEY
56m | Spanish with English subtitles
A young man with a backpack walks all on his own into the endless Mexican cactus desert. He takes some peyote. How does he get out again? Pure cinema in the long-take tradition of Lisandro Alonso or Gus Van Sant.
Along a track, in the dawn light, a young man aged about thirty walks towards us. He passes a village, then walks on into the void. To judge by his modern backpack, he must be a city dweller.
In front of him is an endless desert of cactuses; on the horizon is a mountain chain. He asks the way and heads deeper into the desert until he reaches an oasis. Later we see him searching the undergrowth looking for peyote cactus. He eats the cactus that became legendary thanks to Carlos Castenada and Hunter S. Thompson among others, but has been known since pre-Columbian times for its hallucinogenic effect. Everyone thinks the little plant with mescaline tastes awful (William Burroughs: ‘Horrible stuff. Made me sick like I wanted to die’) but it’s also supposed to provide a deep spiritual self-insight.
Inspired by the films of for instance Abbas Kiarostami, Lisandro Alonso or Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Matias Meyer made a film virtually without dialogue in which man is confronted with himself, his loneliness and the overwhelming landscape. The beautiful long takes are impressive, even if we don’t know anything about the protagonist, apart from what we see. His motivation to do what he does remains obscure. Yet the result is clear and powerful, like awakening from a drug high. (GT)
Macro Cinéma Perceptual Evaluations I, II & III
Marc-André Yonkers Vidal
10:00 min | Colour | Sound
The feeling of discovery is fragile, I want the viewer to fall in without something to hold onto and nothing concrete left after. Creating an undescribable experience. Images evoking something that isn’t really there.
