Dinner with Hasta Siempre, Comandante
An interview with Faisal Attrache, director of Hasta Siempre, Comandante
Where did the shooting take place?
The shooting took place during a workshop with Abbas Kiarostami in Cuba in early 2016 that was put on by Black Factory Cinema (Spain). We were about 45 minutes outside of Havana at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (EICTV), and I shot the film in Pueblo Textil, a nearby village.
How did you meet your characters?
Everyone in the workshop was free to make a film about whatever they wanted and with whomever they wanted. While I met Ernesto and his father, Andrés, the first day I was in the village, I didn’t actually decide to make my film about them until the last days of the workshop. I had previously made a short documentary film about a Syrian refugee barber in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, so when I saw Ernesto’s balcony barber shop I was immediately curious. I spent a day documenting the relationship between a father and his son but did not have a particular goal in mind so I just kind of let it go. After a couple failed attempts at getting something off the ground with other characters (Maestro Kiarostami would keep telling me my ideas were “too complicated!”), I was watching the footage and discovered a scene where Andrés tells Ernesto that if he ever got a tattoo he would burn it off his arm with an iron! I loved the idea of this conflict between them, and it was simple enough to make a short film about it, so I knew this was what my film should be about.
Did Ernesto really got tattooed or was it the fantasy issue with which folks had to react? How much was set before shooting?
Ernesto did not really get a tattoo. That is why it might seem strange that we have a VFX credit in the film, and maybe the astute observer will be able to put two and two together after they watch the film. The entire concept of the film was very fluid and constantly developing as I was shooting it. I took Ernesto to a nearby town to find a tattoo parlor. On the way, I was asking him what tattoo he would hypothetically get if he could get one. He didn’t really have anything in mind, but suddenly it hit me. His father is a huge admirer of Che Guevara, and I realized that was it! His intentions would be good but he would still be doing something against his father’s wishes. It summed up the conflict between generations, and the changing ideals of those generations all at once. We found a tattoo parlor and asked him to pretend he was tattooing Che’s image on his arm. I also loved how this concept of a tattoo, something so permanent and definitive, could be the key to throwing off an audience and make them question whether or not this was all real. If someone is getting a tattoo in a “documentary”, then it must be real, right?
How much is Che Guevara still a role model in Cuba? Why did you pick that significant figure?
This has a lot to do with the generations. I think the older generations very much respect Che Guevara and idolize him as a national hero. The role he played in their lives and in Cuba’s liberation was huge. Many people, like Andrés in my film, keep his photo in their living rooms. However, as is the case with history all over the world, with each passing generation it gets warped and changed and misconstrued as the context and reality of the world changes. In the 1950s and 1960s, Che Guevara represented something real and concrete. Today it might be difficult for youth to comprehend the magnitude of who Che was and how he represented an era of resistance and revolution to peoples all over the world. In many ways, he has been overly simplified and summarized in nationalistic dogma and as a pop culture icon. In short, someone whose face you would get as a tattoo! This is the muddied, watered-down version of Che that the youth must reconcile today.
Are you interested in the parent-child relation and are you planning to make further films on this theme?
This was the first film I made that dealt with parent-child relationships, but I’ve realized that it has actually become an important theme in my upcoming work. I am currently developing a father-son comedy drama set in Amman, Jordan, about repairing broken bonds and understanding our own personal family history and past. I’m also working on a huge passion project about my great grandfather who was the leader of the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925. This film is a family project, both in its content and behind the scenes. So yes, I do find myself making films about this theme in particular, amongst many others as well.
What sort of freedom would you say the short format allows?
This particular short film has given me the most freedom of any other short I’ve made. After graduating from film school, I found myself stuck in a mode of thinking that forced me to see filmmaking as a huge production each time. In order to get something made I need a budget, large crew, equipment, locations, etc. This is a huge barrier and often time shuts down creativity or ideas before they can even develop. I didn’t have the urge to go out and shoot something because I thought I didn’t have the resources to properly do it. However, making Hasta Siempre, Comandante completely broke that misconception down for me, hopefully forever. I made this film over a few days on my own with no crew (out of necessity) and just my basic DSLR camera and equipment. It cost me almost nothing. Going through that experience and coming out the other side with a film that is playing in festivals will always be a reminder and proof that this is possible.
Hasta Siempre, Comandante is being shown in International Competition I11.
