Event

This month, Andrés Duque

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Throughout the month of January screen at the CCCB presents Andrés Duque. Caracas-born Duque studied in Venezuela and worked for the Latin America division of HBO as a screenplay writer and producer. In 2000 he moved to Barcelona and gained a master’s degree in Theory and Practice of the Creative Documentary at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His most prize-winning work is Iván Z, a documentary about Iván Zulueta made in 2004. For Screen at the CCCB, Andrés Duque has selected another of his works that has received prizes at various festivals, Paralelo 10.

Paralelo 10, 26'
Spain, 2005, DVCam
Script, production, direction and editing: Andrés Duque
Camera: Sergi Vilanova, Andrés Duque
Sound: Wyz
Voice: Marlon Manzano

"I felt attracted towards Rosmarie and her ritual in Avinguda Paral•lel the very first time I saw her. She finds numbers in everything around her; she counts the windows of a building and adds the result to the number of steps between her front door and where she works. She deciphers hidden codes in manhole covers and makes measuring instruments that allow her to predict the future. She is a very vital woman. A woman who has found herself again after being diagnosed schizophrenic.

She doesn't talk to anyone-at least, not verbally. So, after spending four months accompanying her, as a witness to her daily ritual, I managed to communicate with her using sign language. One day I asked if she would let me film her with my camera, and she agreed.

Later, I managed to talk to her and get her to explain her ritual, but it's a secret that I'll keep to myself because, in this case, words only detract beauty from her work. Her movements are beautiful, elegant and precise, charged with an emotion that words cannot define.

The idea of filming the last sequence in the karaoke came during the editing process. It shows someone singing "My way" by Frank Sinatra and slowly vanishing from the image. I wanted to close, by way of an epilogue, with an image that was totally unconnected with Rosmarie's ritual but which somehow expressed something mystical or transcendent-a new form of dialogue with the viewer on the theme of spirituality and the way it is portrayed.

During the filming, I remained very close to her. She never lost concentration in my presence. As I was very familiar with her ritual, I could sense everything that she did. The filming took nine days. I had the assistance of my friend Sergi Vilanova as second cameraman, so we didn't miss a thing. It was a therapeutic process; I believe we achieved something beautiful that is far removed from the fear and horror that schizophrenia normally inspires."

Andrés Duque, director