In the dramatic of the short film Body, Written and produced by Luca Bueno, two LAPD officers respond to a disruption call in a house located in a neighborhood that has the majority of immigrants and minorities. While the police investigate the situation, agent Alvarez (Alonso Garcia) notes cultural clues that suggest that something bigger is at stake. While he is struggling with his own Latin inheritance and his functions as an agent responsible for the application of laws, he begins to reflect on humanity and empathy.
Just before his short first at Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Bueno talks about the deadline for the fate of immigrants and the importance of Latin representation.
Deadline: What was the inspiration for the short film?
Luca well: I have the impression that, as filmmakers, we have the opportunity to fight against relevant subjects, and the subject of immigration and the debate on immigration is something which, in my opinion, was not only relevant, but that it will be and will always be as well. Over the past two months and years, we have absolutely been bombed by really sensational titles, figures and titles. And I said to myself: “I want to tell a story on this subject, but it really shows humanity behind it.”
It was people, humans, families behind figures, big titles, disinformation, the sticker aspect of all this migration conversation that forced me to film this.
Deadline: I read that you are a person of Brazilian origin who moved to France, then ended up in the United States. So, I am curious: how do you get on?
Bueno: I was born in Brazil. My family is complete Brazilian of T, and therefore very Latin and proud of this. I moved from Brazil to France, then in Monte Carlo at the age of eight, and I returned to Brazil when I was 14. And then, at 16, I moved here to the United States, so I have always been the immigrant, the new guy, not only in schools but also in countries and cultures. We moved to France because of my father [Galvão Bueno] Work and then come back because of this. Then I moved to the United States because I was super passionate about the continuation of the film. So, this thought of wanting to go somewhere in search of a better life, I understand completely. Even if I am not in the situation of the people I represent in the film, I can identify with the burning desire to move somewhere in search of your dream and a better life for your family.
Luca well
Deadline: we discussed before the interview on you who do not like horror films too much, but it’s so funny because there are horror style photos here. Talk about how you have filmed your short film.
Bueno: It is true that I am not the big fan of horror, but above all, horrible horror. But I have known it since I was about six years old that I wanted to be a director. So I am passionate about all the films. My father was working on television, my grandmother was an actress and my grandfather was a director. So I built these tools in my rear pocket for each type of genre. This is a very serious subject and dark in the short film. It is very frightening. So, using these small horror techniques for the realization, I think, worked for that. It is also a film on perspective. There is a small turn. And by adding this thriller element, I think it concerns how scary it is for people in this situation on both sides.
Deadline: How did you find Alonso Garcia to play the Alvarez officer?
Bueno: He is incredible. He is from Peru, so he is also Latin. It’s funny, however, because I auditioned so many people, and it was, if I am not mistaken, the first to submit or to the first three people to submit. And it was a three -month process to find the protagonist, and it was one of the first. So I said to myself: “This guy is pretty good. He corresponds to everything.” But I was not going to get involved in an actor after a week of research. So, I stretched things. But then, in those months that followed, I always thought that no one was as good as him. It was something about how he could express what he felt without using words.
Deadline: talk more about the lack of dialogue in the script because you lift a good point. You absolutely needed someone who could sell this.
Bueno: This is prospect. I want to have this lack of dialogue, where you expect there to be a lot of explanations, I looked at dialogue because I wanted it to be really noticeable that something was missing. If some people don’t like that, that’s good. I wanted it to be really noticeable because it makes people start to think: “Well, if there was a dialogue, what would he have said? What is the antagonist, the American officer, would have said?” Thanks to this communication from looks, I really like to tell people about the way they filled the lines [with silence and their emotions]. This feeling of the antagonist let him leave. Did he believe that officer Alvarez hadn’t found anyone else in the house?
There is an ambiguity because finding these families [in hiding] Never go the same way. So leaving an ambiguous end makes it more universal. One of my inspirations is Denis Villeneuve, the director of Arrival,, Sicario, And Dune. He always says, “The film has so much; He has an image, he has sound, he has angles that tell a feeling. ” And therefore, sometimes, dialogue can be overused. And we have so much to fall back into the cinema because we have so much. And in a way I wanted to explore this to work on my muscles with that.
Deadline: Let’s talk about certain scenes. There is a symbolism in the collar of agent Alvarez. He wears it openly, then he hides it after the other officer mentioned it. Then, when he meets the family hiding in the closet, the girl has a similar bracelet.
Bueno: So the necklace he wears is something that is important in every Latin culture. He has a different name. In Brazil, we have a different name. In Peru, they have a different name. In Mexico, they have a different name, but it’s the same thing. So it’s something that when you see someone carrying it or referring to it, you know. So, it is to bring him back, at the beginning, that he essentially puts his badge, his professionalism and his duty in front of his culture. And it is he who puts his duty in front of his humanity. As the film progresses, while it makes the choices it makes, it is proud of the choice it makes, and it brings the necklace and puts it in front of its badge. It’s as if he said, now it’s my culture and my humanity in front of my duty. So that was another way to verbalize this without having to say anything.
Deadline: Then there is the scene where he really finds the family hiding in the closet. There are no words, but there are a lot of looks and revelations. There is a woman who has a newborn newborn and blood on the ground. Then you see despair on their faces. Unpack this.
Bueno: Yeah. It builds us to think that it is something pretty terrible that maybe the guy hides, right? So, that’s for sure, it goes from fear to what it might find to relief that no one died and everyone is alive. But then, wow, I have never met something like that before. What are I going to do? What will he happen to me? The bracelet that the girl wears then connects him with them. It’s a lot. You are so right. So what we did is that we have sewn a lot of different sockets together. So when you find something like that for the context, the cupboard family hiding, the owner housed them, and she gave birth, as you said. If you were to open this cupboard, you would not have a reaction. So many things would cross your head. And so, I said to myself: “Let’s take a lot of catches. Give me a lot of options, and then we will register with the family and when we come back to you. You will pass the roller coaster.” So, we have made sure to have a lot of different emotions passing by his head and many of different take sewn together.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
