“And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates
empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes,
aspirations, dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are
sharing this journey with us.”
This famous passage
from Roger Ebert’s “Life Itself” served as our guide on the jury for the New
Directors Program of the Chicago International Film Festival. This year, we were honored to
present the first annual Roger Ebert Award to one of the films in this
selection of first and second-time directors. Which films transported us into
someone else’s shoes? Which films served as a portal to a world
underrepresented in cinema? Which director most impressively replicated the
empathy machine which Ebert so greatly valued? For us, the choice was clear—Jorge
Pérez Solano’s “La Tirisia” from Mexico.
The title translates to “Perpetual Sadness,” a state of
melancholy or depression that feels unending, especially in a part of the world
and state of socio-economic class that makes breaking free of it feel more like
an impossibility. Solano’s film charts the emotional journey of two young
women: one is a confident, outspoken mother of two with another child on the
way; the other is practically a child herself and is about to bring a new one
into this world. Both women are pregnant by the same man. Neither woman is married
to him. Both are in situations that should be naturally beautiful and
life-affirming—bringing new life into this world—but their circumstances make
that kind of joy impossible.
Through stunningly surreal cinematography of a landscape
made up of mostly dirt and cactuses, Solano proves to have a strong visual
language in his second film. Many of the compositions border on painterly,
often casting these women against the striking danger of the world around them
without the need for dialogue or traditional narrative. It’s remarkably
confident in every decision, particularly for the work of a young filmmaker.
How can we imagine life as a young, pregnant, Mexican woman
in Oaxaca without a film like “La Tirisia”? Solano takes us on a journey,
allowing, as Roger said, more understanding and more identification with people
we don’t encounter in our everyday lives.
The New Directors
Program jury, which chose the Roger Ebert Award winner, consisted of Brian
Tallerico, Anna Croneman, Izza Génini and Wieland Speck. Click here to see the other winners of the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival.
