PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews director Jorge Thielen Armand, who talks about his new movie The Solitude, from the 73rd Venice Film Festival.
Director Jorge Thielen Armand embarked on a difficult trip when he decided to tell us his story, the true story, of his parents’ hometown of Caracas, with its real inhabitants needing to leave and relocate in a city on the verge of financial disaster – much like the country of Venezuela as a whole. A touching and impactful film, the power of the film is enhanced by knowing that what we are seeing on the screen is the real person, not the actor, and the facts that we are being told show what is really happening in real life.
THE SOLITUDE (LA SOLEDAD). is a dilapidated villa located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Caracas. It used to be the home of director Jorge Thielen Armand’s great-grandparents, but when the owners passed away fifteen years ago, the property was unofficially inherited by their lifelong maid, Rosina, now 72, who remained to care for the house and raise her grandson, José, now 27, Jorge’s childhood friend. José works as a handyman, dreaming of a better life for his six-year-old daughter Adrializ, amidst Venezuela’s economic crisis. Waiting in long queues for food and the medicine Rosina so desperately needs is part of José’s routine. When he learns that the legal inheritors of the house plan to sell the estate, José struggles to try to find a solution that will keep his family away from the crime-ridden slums. Yet the house holds a secret that could save them all: a treasure that is rumored to be buried in its walls. Set in the beautiful derelict eponymous mansion and played by the real inhabitants, La Soledad poetically depicts Venezuela’s socio-economic crisis through José’s struggle to save his family from homelessness.
The Lovers Film Festival celebrates 40 years with 70 films from 26 countries, international guests and tributes to LGBTQI+ cinema icons. Directed by Vladimir Luxuria, from 10 to 17 April at the Cinema Massimo in Turin.