Dinner with Julkita
An interview with Humberto Busto, director of Julkita
What genre would you say Julkita belongs to? The film was shown at Screamfest. Would it be fair to call it a horror film?
It has been really interesting how festivals of different kind have reacted to Julkita. Since its release at Guadalajara International Film Festival on march, Julkita has been in more than 20 festivals both classic/drama and horror/fantasy genre. I didn’t conceive the film as a horror one (even if the topic and the form I decided to explore could have some horror expressions). This is the 3rd short film of a group of cinema projects that I started a few years ago, each and everyone of them talking about organic and physical themes. The first one (Even a prune ripens) was about the Alzheimer that ended with my grandmother’s life. The second (Botero’s Tit) was about a cancer survivor actress in México and a specific surgery that I had in my teeth and bones. So I was searching for a new subject with which I could talk about blood and empowerment. That’s when I talked one day and by chance with Haydee Leyva (the main actress). She shared with me some intimate dissertations and thoughts about her life (specially about her period) and the inmense desire to be brave enough to use it as a positive tool instead of hurting herself, feeling so emotionally chaotic and having insane relationships. She talked about an alter-ego she had been imagining: a superheroine of menstruation. A little female hulk… sort of.
What or who inspired the character of Julkita? Why this name?
I decided to call it Julkita as a sound reference of SheHulk but with a Mexican edge, even a slang thing, the same way the characters talked to each other: a mix of Spanish and English, a metaphor of a generation that is losing a true identity in order to be hype or cool. I thought it was a very peculiar way to talk about transmutation on a film so I decided to use at as my main topic. We spent a lot of time together, knowing more about herself and discovering new imaginary worlds around the character. Then I invited Alberto Wolf to write the script together. So, as my other films, the process has been in the same way: to work with the real life and problematic issues of my actors (I’m an actor too and love the capacity for them to create life) and then decide the specific style that could be precise to share their world and to connect with mine. So, I think Julkita is a psychological drama externalized in form of an outlandish and fanciful cinematic world.
The character is described as fighting against gender violence and “inglorious” politicians. Could you tell us more about both these realities in Mexico? Were there particular events or personalities that motivated you to develop Julkita?
I think that Mexico is in a real big political crisis. And it hurts. It permeates every action or decision we make. But I think that there’s a generation of people in their 20s who knows that something really bad is happening in the country but sometimes feel that they need to solve their own intimate problematic first. I believe there’s a gap between intentions and real political action. The big amount of femicides in the country is insane. There are some cases in which you find news about women who have been raped and killed and cut into pieces and discovered in boxes inside a motel and nobody does anything to finish with that. It’s really frustrating. There’s a lot of anger and fear around us. It seems that we don’t have any real political figure that could help us, or help women. For example, when Julkita is watching the TV, we’re talking about real news. One day, the Major of the city decided to give women a whistle to defend themselves for attacks on the street. The name in Spanish for that “whistle” is “pito”. But “pito” means “dick” too. So it was offensive and unconscious from him to say and propose that. That’s just a minimal example. I hate how machismo is so powerful in México, even in these days. I’d love to have a lot of Julkitas at the top of all houses, screaming at the same time to stop this massacre. That’s the spirit that I wanted to achieve through Julkita‘s story. A girl who decides to be her own heroine and destroy every piece of darkness in her mind, her body and her reality, as I see many women in the world right now.
Are you particularly keen on genre films? What are your cinematic influences?
I like genre films but definitely they are not the ones that I usually watch. I love Werner Herzog, Antonioni, Bergman and Bresson. I love to watch subtle films. It’s kind of strange to say this when I’m showing a film like Julkita. But that’s the only one of my short films that has these characteristics. I needed to be faithful to Haydee’s world. I watched genre films to have some references, but for me it was more important to understand what she was trying to achieve in real life. I think cinema (when it’s made of personal stuff) have the power to transform lives. That’s what I love about filmmaking. I see Haydee now and it’s a very different person after the film. She is more brave, conscious and clear. I think Julkita helped her to conquer that. That’s why I was talking about those filmmakers. Their films still transform, and they usually talk about spirit and profound emotions.
What sort of freedom would you say the short format allows?
The most interesting thing for me when doing short films is that we could be free enough to really be ourselves and share our own point of view with no restrictions or judgements. I’m developing my tools as director and need to experiment with very different formats, even my topics could probably have connections between them. When you begin to get into the market with a feature film, it’s very difficult to keep integrity cause most of the time is all about money and results. And that is not so common when you’re doing your first films.
If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
I want to learn more about my craft, and the way you could share films in new platforms. To learn from other filmmakers and to have new experiences. To connect with digital distributors…. I’m really excited and grateful to be part of this selection. It was really a long way to achieve this film so I’m happy to project it there and still hear reactions and have interchanges.
Are you taking part in other events during the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival ? (Espressos, Conferences, other ?)
I think that I’m gonna be in the Expressos talks. Love Q&As. I think is a good way to expand the appreciation of a piece. As you started with this interview: some people think that I wanted to shock or to create a genre film, but usually when I have the possibility to explain the reasons behind the creation, it takes new dimensions out of it. Really appreciate that.
Julkita is being shown in International Competition I9.
