FILM - Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici

A
director should be able to transmit a sense of profound trust to a great artist
and making the artist understand that his or her interest in the work is an
absolute need and that he or she, as a director, lives with this work of art and not
only understands it but admires and loves it.
I had the opportunity of making films about Max Ernst, Friedensreich Hundertwasser,
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. Unfortunately, they are no longer with
us, but when the projector is turned on in the darkness of a theatre, this ray of light
brings these artists and their atmosphere, language and art back to life.
Still today, I am amazed by the fact that films have the ability of making mankind’s
ancestral dream of immortality come true. If I may, it’s like to say that the very
soul of an artist emerges when filmmakers know how to capture the essence the
artist’s existence, period, social environment, charisma and the originality of his or
her works.
Unlike many hurriedly filmed television reports in which presumptuous commentators
frequently attempt to judge and analyse artists and their oeuvre, I was fortunate
enough to have spent years with my artist-friends and thus enabling them to speak
in an authentic manner in my films.
I did not want to film stereotyped documentaries on art and artists, to the contrary,
with the material provided I always have tried to create unique films each with its
own unique cinematographic-artistic form. Each film is a concentrate, the result of
countless hours of audio - visual material.
Despite the fact that Botero and I are the same age and have been friends for
40 years, in the beginning of the film, he responded to my questions in a rather
aggressive manner. Therefore, I tried to make him understand that he didn’t have
to give academic explanations; he only needed to speak to the camera as if it were
a friend, or better yet, as a woman with whom he had a good sexual relationship.
This is how we managed to achieve the best effects on the screen.
Botero responded that, until then, he had always had the sensation that he had to
justify himself and his art. That is when I understood that my most important task
was to free him from this sensation. It’s wonderful that international fame can be
gained not only by pop-stars and singers but also by great figurative artists as well.
Today, when someone who is interested in art, anywhere in the world, be it Japan,
Europe or America, says, “Look, this gentleman - or this lady looks like a BOTERO” -
everyone immediately understands exactly what they mean. However, Botero does
not only paint beautiful decorative paintings with the well known voluminous forms
and figures “with his anarchy of proportion”.
I decided to make a film about Botero in 2006 when I saw his series of drawings
and paintings of the torture and atrocities inflicted by American soldiers in the
Abu Ghraib prison. I admire the fact that Botero does not sell these works, as well
as many of his works on terrorism and human suffering in Colombia, his country
of origin. He prefers to give them to museums or place them on exhibit on the
international circuit or even in large US cities. Unlike many contemporary artists,
Botero is not interested in earning a profit from his works which focus on issues
of social concern.
Peter Schamoni