Chilean filmmaker advises aspiring filmmakers to read watch movies and then learn technical skills

Thiruvananthapuram: Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain said that people who aspire to make movies should read and watch films and then go to film school to learn its technicalities because filmmaking cannot be taught in a classroom.Speaking at ‘masterclass', a discussion organised at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Larrain said, "In my opinion, I would advise people who want to make movies that instead of spending time in film school, they should do two things: read and watch movies. Then go and learn the technical aspect. Most of the major filmmakers did not go to film school. I don't know how it is here in India." Stating that he went to a film school for four years and admired his teachers, Larrain said that he learned to make films by making them. He suggested that those who want to make films should spend the best time reading history, philosophy, sociology, literature and poetry, and then learn to make movies by being part of a crew and seeing how it is made. "Many filmmakers I admire have learned by reading and watching films." Talking about the need to have a point of view and the politics of films, Larrain said that every film has its politics, even if a film does not have politics as its centre point. "Any time you are showing a human perspective, you are showing a political perspective," he added. He also stressed how the past and the present create friction. "It is interesting to look at period movies that were made at different periods. Look at a movie that was set in the ‘30s but was made in the ‘50s, look at a movie that was set in the ‘50s but made in the ‘80s, for example. We have layers - the present when it is made and the past when it's set. I think it's not possible to ignore or to avoid your current situation vis-à-vis the time the movie is set. It creates an instant friction, which is what I think is interesting." Larrain also spoke about the threat to identity in the age of social media. He said, "There is a serious threat to identity right now, and people speak about the threat to the truth. The biggest threat in my eyes is the identity of people, to define who they are because they can only be defined by what others think about them. That is complicated." In an interview to IFFK, Larrain said that the era of Augusto Pinochet frequently appears in his films because Pinochet is a truth that shaped Chilean society. "The ability to view history from multiple perspectives and create it in various forms and tones is something that greatly fascinates me. This is why this theme recurs in my films." On similarities between Latin American political films and those from Kerala, he said, "I believe there are more similarities between the two societies than we often think. This extends to the films as well. In this era, a country like Chile struggles to preserve its identity. This is due to Chile's colonial past, with influences from cultures like the US and Spain. This theme is also explored in films from Kerala and India, which often seek to answer questions like who are we? and what are we?"