Details
Series curated by Javier Guerrero (Princeton University) & Juana Suárez (New York University)
Marking the 50th anniversary, this September 11, of the military coup against President Allende in Chile, this retrospective is dedicated to Alfredo Castro, the internationally acclaimed Chilean actor whose work is essential to a deep exploration of the cruelty of the dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet (1973-1989). Inspired by the French playwright Antonin Artaud, Castro has theorized the ‘third body,’ a key concept in the study of unknown and unconfessed human drives. In this retrospective, we privilege Castro’s close, decades-long collaboration with the Chilean director Pablo Larraín.
“As an actor, I invoke the most primitive and unlearned parts of myself, memory and oblivion from another time and place, to unleash a ghost that can stage the desired scenes, the most ominous and cruel ones, which definitively activate my organism.” Alfredo Castro.
“Throughout my career I have understood that the act of playing another person requires ending the separation between the actor’s body and the fictional body of the character, allowing for a dissolution of one into the other. This leads me to believe in the existence of a third body, a mediating body between the actor and the character.” Alfredo Castro.
“It is difficult to determine the border between fiction and reality in Pablo Larraín’s filmography. That is why I approach the characters that I have played in his films from the point of view of testimony, like metabolized confessions that require me to inhabit the dangerous and confused limit of insanity… and in that way I get closer to portraying the aspects of life that cannot be portrayed.” Alfredo Castro.
Event information (7th of 8)
Tony Manero
Director: Pablo Larraín
2008 / 97min / DCP
Raul Peralta (Alfredo Castro), a middle-aged criminal in Chile in the 1970's, is obsessed with Tony Manero, John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever. Every Saturday, he imitates his idol by leading a small group of dancers to perform at a bar in the city’s outskirts. His dream of becoming a showbiz star is about to become a reality when a national television station announces a contest for the best Tony Manero impersonator.
“With Tony Manero, Alfredo Castro masterfully highlights the violence of the opportunistic loser who would do anything to achieve his selfish goals.” —Series curators Javier Guerrero and Juana Suárez.
Series film screening titles, dates and locations:
Click on links to event posting.
El Conde -Tuesday October 31--Princeton University, East Pyne 010 6:00 pm
Tengo miedo torero / My Tender Matador - Wednesday November 1--Princeton University, East Pyne 010 5:30 pm
El Club / The Club - Thursday November 2—Fordham University, Keating Hall 3 (Rose Hill Campus) 6:00 pm
Los perros / The Dogs - Friday November 3--Princeton University, East Pyne 010 6:00 pm
Post Mortem - Friday November 3-Metrograph 5:30 pm
El Conde - Friday November 3-Metrograph 8:15 pm
Tony Manero - Saturday November 4-Metrograph 2:20 pm
No - Saturday November 4-Metrograph 5:00 pm
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