LAS LUCES / THE LIGHTS
LAS LUCES / THE LIGHTS Documentary / 7min / Argentina B&W / 2014 / DCP 5.1
SYNOPSIS Every Christmas, Jorge and Jorge Jr. decorate their house in a special way. The people in the village call it "The house of the lights". directors JUAN RENAU and MANUEL ABRAMOVICH cinematographers MANUEL ABRAMOVICH and JUAN RENAU production DANIELA RASCHCOVSKY executive production MANUEL ABRAMOVICH sound SOFÍA STRAFACE editor FEDERICO ROZAS with JORGE GERVASI and JORGITO GERVASI Director´s BIO Juan Renau was born in Buenos Aires in 1986. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a Film Degree. He was selected for the Talent Campus Buenos Aires 2013. His short “Yo y Maru 2012” (2013), won the short film competition at BAFICI 2013. He is currently working on his first documentary feature. Manuel Abramovich was born in 1987 in Buenos Aires, where he studied Cinematography. He works as a documentary director and cinematographer. He has directed several short films. His latest work "La Reina" was awarded at Los Angeles, Fribourg, BAFICI, Melbourne, among others. In 2012, he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus. He is currently completing his first documentary feature “Solèy”.
“Las Luces” (The Lights) A documentary self-portrait / Production notes We’ve been working together for some time now, sharing an interest in creative documentaries. To blend “real” characters and elements with the workings of fiction in order to convey our shared idea of narrative. We make independent movies, with funds coming from awards or smaller institutions here in Argentina. We constantly wonder why we chose the absurd and grueling job of filmmaking. And even if we don’t have a (single) clear answer, what we know is that as soon as we finish a project, we start thinking about the next one. We usually collaborate on each other’s endeavours, either as cameraman or assistant director. Las Luces is the first work we’ve directed together. It was a rather experimental project for us. We decided to take care of production ourselves, funding it with an award we won for a previous collaboration. We first arrived in the town of Monte Caseros in 2012 to shoot a TV documentary on its carnival. The team was made up of merely four people. During the shooting, on many occasions we heard of Jorge and Jorgito Gervasi, a father and his son who obsessively decorated, year after year, their home with christmas lights. They called it “the house of the lights”. We had to wait until the following December, when the house’s decoration was completed, to get back to the town in order to meet them. The first time we saw the front of the house decked with a myriad of blinking lights, we stood there in bewildered awe. We couldn’t believe that in the middle of that tiny village in the north of Argentina, a father and his son would spend months dedicated to adorning their abode with christmas lights, just for their community’s pleasure. Just for that. When we spoke to them we realized that Jorge and Jorgito were a reflection of ourselves. They were expectant of our reaction, just like we are when we show our films. It was then that it dawned on us that we had travelled there to shoot a self-portrait. They, like we do, use light to amaze those observing their work. Las Luces is, to us, a metaphor for filmmaking. To watch Jorge and Jorgito sitting in their home surrounded by their creation is like looking at ourselves in the mirror, sitting in a darkened movie theater while this film is being shown. And just like the Gervasis plan next year’s design with lights, so do we walk out of the theater thinking about our next project. Manuel Abramovich and Juan Renau
SYNOPSIS Every Christmas, Jorge and Jorge Jr. decorate their house in a special way. The people in the village call it "The house of the lights". directors JUAN RENAU and MANUEL ABRAMOVICH cinematographers MANUEL ABRAMOVICH and JUAN RENAU production DANIELA RASCHCOVSKY executive production MANUEL ABRAMOVICH sound SOFÍA STRAFACE editor FEDERICO ROZAS with JORGE GERVASI and JORGITO GERVASI Director´s BIO Juan Renau was born in Buenos Aires in 1986. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a Film Degree. He was selected for the Talent Campus Buenos Aires 2013. His short “Yo y Maru 2012” (2013), won the short film competition at BAFICI 2013. He is currently working on his first documentary feature. Manuel Abramovich was born in 1987 in Buenos Aires, where he studied Cinematography. He works as a documentary director and cinematographer. He has directed several short films. His latest work "La Reina" was awarded at Los Angeles, Fribourg, BAFICI, Melbourne, among others. In 2012, he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus. He is currently completing his first documentary feature “Solèy”.
“Las Luces” (The Lights) A documentary self-portrait / Production notes We’ve been working together for some time now, sharing an interest in creative documentaries. To blend “real” characters and elements with the workings of fiction in order to convey our shared idea of narrative. We make independent movies, with funds coming from awards or smaller institutions here in Argentina. We constantly wonder why we chose the absurd and grueling job of filmmaking. And even if we don’t have a (single) clear answer, what we know is that as soon as we finish a project, we start thinking about the next one. We usually collaborate on each other’s endeavours, either as cameraman or assistant director. Las Luces is the first work we’ve directed together. It was a rather experimental project for us. We decided to take care of production ourselves, funding it with an award we won for a previous collaboration. We first arrived in the town of Monte Caseros in 2012 to shoot a TV documentary on its carnival. The team was made up of merely four people. During the shooting, on many occasions we heard of Jorge and Jorgito Gervasi, a father and his son who obsessively decorated, year after year, their home with christmas lights. They called it “the house of the lights”. We had to wait until the following December, when the house’s decoration was completed, to get back to the town in order to meet them. The first time we saw the front of the house decked with a myriad of blinking lights, we stood there in bewildered awe. We couldn’t believe that in the middle of that tiny village in the north of Argentina, a father and his son would spend months dedicated to adorning their abode with christmas lights, just for their community’s pleasure. Just for that. When we spoke to them we realized that Jorge and Jorgito were a reflection of ourselves. They were expectant of our reaction, just like we are when we show our films. It was then that it dawned on us that we had travelled there to shoot a self-portrait. They, like we do, use light to amaze those observing their work. Las Luces is, to us, a metaphor for filmmaking. To watch Jorge and Jorgito sitting in their home surrounded by their creation is like looking at ourselves in the mirror, sitting in a darkened movie theater while this film is being shown. And just like the Gervasis plan next year’s design with lights, so do we walk out of the theater thinking about our next project. Manuel Abramovich and Juan Renau
