As the RAUL movie project is finally about to premiere, we were invited to show a 15 minute trailer at the revamped Punta del Este International Film Festival in Uruguay’s top beach resort.
When my friend Sergio, who was organizing the Fest told me that our preview was going to be shown at Fundacion Atchugarry, I didn’t think much of it. I had never heard of the place, though the prospect of it being en route to beautiful Jose Ignacio and in the middle of the country sounded very appealing.
They say that the art of filmmaking si the art of waiting, especially because of how long it takes to render and compress movie files on editing software. I should add that filmmaking is the art of waiting first and rushing later. As things were, I finished my revamped version of a 15 minute preview (complete with sound and color correction) only a couple of hours before the showing was scheduled, and after a sleepless night. Considering Punta is an hour and a half away from Montevideo, there was plenty of rushing thrown into the mix.
My editing software had been playing some tricks on me, which they always will do, eventually, but I finally made it, though I was burning DVDs literally while I was walking down the stairs from my house, with my Macbook pro open and in full fling.
After a sleepless night and all the rushing, arriving at Fundacion Atchugarry was a blessing. There was the overall greenness and the beautiful white buildings of the Art galleries, the open air restaurant and the beautiful lake in the background, all crowned by scattered modern sculptures, that looked just perfect with their curving metallic shapes among the open fields and the massive trees.
As we entered the area, a huge paella was in the making, and I joked that they shouldn’t have shown people food before the screenings, because now nobody would really care, and all they would think of would be the delicious seafood. Nevertheless, after a tour of a beautiful gallery, we did have our screening.
It was a joy to find people laughing and being moved again with Raul’s story, and it was also indeed a pleasure to be able to share those moments with him and his wife Susana, who have become two of my closest friends since the shooting of the film.
The grass was inviting, the paella and the wine were delicious, company was the best, and the sun was shining over Punta del Este, though we had just had some bleak rainy days.
The last I saw of Fundacion Atchugarry was my friend Diego Lerman (Argentinean filmmaker extraordinaire) sitting on the grass with his actresses and his children, relaxing in the shade of ancient trees.
Apparently, both the galleries and the restaurant are open to the public. This is not a place that many people know about, but if you are ever near Punta, I recommend you take the drive to Route 104, Km 4.5 and check it out. I myself will for sure go back as soon as I can.
Links:
Punta del Este International Film Festival
Hotels near Fundacion Pablo Atchugarry
Tourist info LA BARRA, Maldonado