“Please don’t close the INCAA”, began bluntly Mirtha Legrand his speech upon receiving the award Martin Fierro Diamond for his long and outstanding career on the big screen, where He excelled during his first years of career. “I am a product of Argentine cinema,” he remarked.
In that sense, he remarked: “I made 36 films, always as the protagonist. All in Argentina, I only made one abroad,” he said and continued: “My whole family is a product of cinema. My brother, José Martínez Suárez was president of the Mar del Plata Film Festival for 12 years. “My sister Goldy Legrand also made films.”
“In my house we love Argentine cinema, so we have to continue making films,” emphasized the 98-year-old television star.
At a critical moment for the national audiovisual industry due to strong cuts within the Government, Legrand said: “The INCAA cannot be closed. We have the most important Spanish-speaking cinema and we Argentines have to sustain it. Let’s be strong and this will continue, making wonderful films.”
Finally, before an auditorium full of actors, directors, producers and scriptwriters, “la Chiqui” closed: “As Martín Fierro said: ‘Brothers be united, that is the first law. Because if they fight, they will be devoured. from outside’. Let us not let ourselves be devoured.
Graciela Borges spoke in defense of Argentine cinema and took aim at its detractors
In turn, Graciela Borges, who was also recognized during the Martín Fierro film award, expressed herself in the same sense as Legrand and maintained: “My special request is that Don’t tell us how we have to make movieswe know how to do it. Don’t let them tell us how many spectators we have to get to be good. It’s not something we always think about,” he said, alluding to the criticism that national films receive for their audience numbers.
“I remember that Negro Fabio and I had to do ‘The Dependent‘I think it is one of the most beautiful films that Argentine cinema has ever had, and we couldn’t find the money, that’s the truth. Then Leopoldo Torre Nilsson helped us, he said that somehow we were going to win. We don’t win anything. Nobody came the first week, not even my mother. But, time passed and that film remained.”
In that sense he continued: “No one wants to make a bad movie, that’s what those who don’t support cinema don’t understand. We fight a lot for cinema. “Let’s not give up, otherwise we won’t be able to continue doing this.”.
Borges remarked that “the world is full of images of Argentine cinema and sometimes it seems that they forget about that” and questioned: “We have to be all the time giving proof, proof and proof of how great we are. That they let us make films, that support us, let us tell what we want.
Finally, he concluded: “It seems that we are always talking about making great films, about the viewers. No. Sometimes we talk about the unknown and it gives us pleasure. We are all the same, always. Working every day without expecting results. That is cinema”.
Source: Ambito
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