Luis, a current contender in the debutant category at the on-going International Festival of Havana with his film Simón de la Montaña, exposed the difficult conditions under which he and others still try to make films in Argentina.

“It seems cinema is like a public enemy, that filmmakers are a group of swindlers and liars who steal people’s money, that is the discourse of the current Government,” he lamented.

“This is what is happening and it is very sad, great festivals like the one in Mar del Plata have fallen into the hands of people who know nothing about filmmaking”, he pointed out in a press conference.

“That is why we Argentine filmmakers decided to withdraw all our works and have them screened on the same dates of the Mar del Plata Festival, btu in the alternative Contracampo show”, he added.

“It was our intention to show the discontent that Argentine filmmakers feel with everything that is happening, and also bring our most recent works to the public, and it was a success, people crowded the room we rented”, he said.

Luis expressed his joy at having the chance to show his work in Havana, where the film event will close on December, noting that “I really wanted to come to Havana, this is the first time I am here and I love the city, there is so much to see and experience…this is a meeting place for filmmakers from the region, allowing us to share our ideas”.

Simon of the Mountain, shot in 2023, he recalled, is one of the last films financed by the National Institute of Arts and Audiovisuals and the public in my country was eager to see it, everything that happened during the presentation there was very beautiful, he recalled.

Luis’s feature comes to Havana followed by a long list of awards: at the Critics’ Week in Cannes Film Festival; at Lima International Film Festival and at the Grand Prix of the FILMFEST in Munich, among others.

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