The Ateneos group is a community theater troupe. Its members work during the day and meet to rehearse at night. For the most part, they are highly sensitive people who have found a way to express themselves through the theater. *Looking at the Sky* explores the ways in which we humans cope with pain and continue to create despite everything.
This is the premise of the second documentary by Guzmán García, who holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication and also directed *Todavía el amor*, which explores the relationships of elderly couples who gather at an old bar in Montevideo to dance the tango. *Todavía el amor* is available on YouTube.
“Looking at the Sky,” meanwhile, “is a documentary that unfolds along two parallel storylines,” García explained. “In one, the Ateneos theater group rehearses and then performs the play *Looking at the Sky*; in the other, we learn about particularly painful episodes in the lives of the group’s members. The film was put together with the intention of creating a dialogue between these two storylines.”
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“My interest in this subject arose from the curiosity I felt about learning the stories behind the people I saw performing,” he added. “When I met the Ateneos group, I quickly realized that many of their members’ stories had been marked by painful experiences. Even before speaking with them, something in their faces and body language revealed this to me,” García writes in his notes. “Their entire world captivated me: the old—and once elegant—abandoned theater where they rehearsed, their close-knit and playful group dynamic, their rustic and emotional style of acting. During rehearsals, you could sense the weight of their difficult personal histories, but also their eagerness to share in this creative endeavor.”
“It’s a film that explores the ways in which we humans cope with pain and continue to create despite everything,” he sums up.
Shooting the film took about a year. Editing took another two years or so. “Both processes had to be interrupted several times due to production issues,” said the director, who also served as the film’s editor. “People always say that editing the material you direct is a bad idea. They’re right. Andrés Borotra’s help with the editing allowed me to reach a more or less satisfactory outcome.”
While *Mirando al cielo* is being released, García is already working on his third documentary, which will focus on Uruguayan film directors.
The film will be shown throughout April in Theater B of the Nelly Goitiño Auditorium. For the first two weeks, screenings will take place at 5:00 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. After that, it will be shown at the Cinemateca Pocitos.
- Director: Guzmán García
- Executive producers: Martín Ubillos, Mercedes Sader, Mariana de Carli
- Production Managers: Martín Ubillos, Patricia Olveira
- Executive Producers: Sebastián Bednarik, Guzmán García
- Cinematography: Marcelo Rabuñal, Arauco Hernández
- Sound direction: Santiago Bednarik
- Art Direction: Lucía González, María José Cabrera
- Editing: Guzmán García, Andrés Borotra
- Colorist: Marcelo Rabuñal
- Original music: Sofía Scheps, Julián Crispino
- Research: Martín Cajal, Natalia Verdún, Alejandro Seijas
- Playwright: Jimena Márquez
- Theater director: Enrique Permuy