Alicia Bustamante

I've often been asked whether I wouldnt like to make my own film. My usual response is, yes, if there were a film that only I could make. Since then I've made a couple of short films. It all began with dreams. When we sleep and dream a poet awakens within us, a poet that uses daring images and words to tell us all the things our conscious mind tries to hide. Based on brief sketches and notes, I relived several dreams, wide-eyed, in front of a rolling camera. The result was seven TRAUMPROTOKOLLE, of which I've chosen one. In HANNA HANNAH I'm in the open maze of the Holocaust memorial in the heart of Berlin remembering my namesake, the Hannah after whom my mother named me, at the last minute, just before I was christened. In MOI ET MON DOUBLE I'm trying to memorise a text by Witold Gombrowicz and I encounter a ghost. Its the self in search of another form of beauty and fulfilment long after the first beauty of youth is behind us. And finally, ALICIA BUSTAMANTE is a portrait of the legendary Cuban stage and film personality. We met almost twenty years ago, on a film set. The author of the real maravilloso wonderful reality series was Gabriel Garcia Márquez. Alicia has remained my companion ever since. She is herself a small, but very real, wonder particularly on account of the way she is able to connect to the genius of childhood in the midst of all the wisdom of her years of experience, and the way her infectious humour turns everyday life into a comedy.