Gael García fights fear through cinema

For Gael García, the best way to combat the fear we're experiencing these days is to write books and make films. The actor of "Mozart in the Jungle," which earned him a Golden Globe, as well as "Y Tu Mamá También" and "Rudo y Cursi," met with the press this morning as part of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM).

At the festival, he presented a special screening of "Amores Perros" on its 25th anniversary; he supported the documentary "ASCO," which he produced; and he attended the screening of " Magallanes ," his most recent film, which has yet to be released in Mexico.

"I've had to go through the transition in filmmaking, from making a movie that we hoped no one would see, to now, where we're thinking about where it's going to be shown," he summarized, referring to the way films are now viewed.

He believed that cinema is important for developing people, as it allows them to empathize with another's reality, generating a sense of community to change things.

In this context, he emphasized that we are currently experiencing times of fear, in which art would help. "I see a time of great fear, where fear is winning, and we must continue writing books and making films to overcome it. This way, we can continue talking things over and continue discussing things with much more peace in conversation and discussion," he said.

“Amores perros”, a timeless classic

Wrapped up in the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of “Amores perros,” in which he plays “Octavio,” which made his film debut when he was barely 19 years old, Gael noted that it is a must-see film .

"I'm not saying this as an opinion, but as a fact. Anyone who wants to study film should watch it at some point; if you're young and haven't had the chance, you have to. My children's classmates are barely watching it," the actor notes.

"There's a similar moment to when we watched movies in which we went from adolescence to maturity, like 'A Clockwork Orange' (by Stanley Kubrick, 1971), which they talked about specifically. 'Amores perros' asks a terrible question: where are we going, where are we going? And that, when you're young, is a question that moves you a lot," he said.

Before the screening, during the red carpet at FICM , he reflected that "I was very young, I was 19 when I participated in it, and now I can't imagine my life without the film."

"(The film) introduced me to cinema, which became my calling, not so much acting. Film fascinated me; I never thought I'd do it, because (in 1998) we were kids and there weren't that many films being made." The charolastra was one of the people who witnessed the reconciliation between Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga two weeks ago at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

“It's so beautiful to feel that what we've done has a life of its own and a life beyond us.”

The Universal

Key works of the actor