Pablo Martínez Pessi, who earned a Bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication in 2006, has directing documentaries. Currently, as of October 2011, he is working on a new project: a documentary that recounts the journey of 154 children, the offspring of Uruguayan political exiles, who came from Spain to meet their relatives and see their country in December 1983 (during the last dictatorial government).
“I first heard about this story while watching a program on Channel 10 hosted by journalist María Inés Obaldía, which featured the story of a caravan of children,” the graduate recalled. On that December 26, nearly 28 years ago—he explained—the line of people accompanying the buses carrying the children stretched from Carrasco Airport to the headquarters of the Uruguayan Bank Employees Association (AEBU) at the Customs Office.
The documentary seeks to raise various questions that encourage the audience to reflect: “What is exile? What is identity? How did those children experience it?” Martínez Pessi noted that young people today view these issues from a different perspective. He will also focus on the protagonists’ memories: how life affected them at that time and how they experience it today.
Other graduates from the School of Communication and Design are also involved in the production: Federico Moleda (Bachelor of Audiovisual Communication), Gabriel Farías (Bachelor of Journalism), and Rafael Álvarez (Certified Sound Designer).
The 31-year-old graduate believes that movie-goers “need to be moved,” which is why they go to see everything from horror films to melodramas, since these films “reach a point where the viewer explodes (emotionally)”; in our documentary, there is a very important and deeply moving moment halfway through the film. It turns out that moviegoers seek to experience “new things that have some connection to their imagination and their real lives.”
He acknowledges that television and technological advances have been key to many changes, such as 3D (three-dimensional) movies. “People are looking to the movies for that rush of everyday life,” he says.
“I do it for myself, but I never forget the audience,” says the filmmaker about his connection to each of his works. Among others, “Semillitas” stands out, supported by the Logros Foundation and the university. “It was a very good experience and the start of a challenge: to test ourselves in the great adventure of making a high-quality documentary that met the foundation’s requirements; it was my first experience as a filmmaker,” he said.
Martínez Pessi also mentioned the documentary *Desde las aguas* (From the Waters), which he directed in 2009, about Villa Soriano, Uruguay’s first settlement. It was a project in which “we learned a great deal, especially since we made it without knowing anything about film production”; he noted that they ended up making the film they set out to make, which doesn’t always happen.
When describing the Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication, the graduate pointed out that it differs from a career as an accountant, lawyer, or doctor; “It’s very creative and allows you to meet a lot of people; it also teaches you about a wide range of subjects—including art, literature, music, mathematics, and law—which makes it a very broad field of study that’s difficult to master, although that depends on your initiative and how much effort you put into it.”
“What I enjoyed most about the program were the discussions with the professors of Film Theory and Production, from whom I learned so much. The department is a place for exchanging ideas, opinions, and experiences; you leave knowing how to do things and with a formed opinion, but that opinion can change later, and what you’ve learned is fully understood through day-to-day work in the audiovisual field,” he concluded.
Interview published in October 2011