Audio transcription
Carlitos Ruiz 0:00
—gonna watch our film Maldeamores. We wanted to talk a little bit before the film, because we don't know if we can stay for the film. Because we have kids, we have to come with our kids [Mariem: “They’re hungry.”] —and we don't let them watch the film.
[LAUGHTER]
That's how nice is the film. That's how nice it is. And anyway, we can talk a little bit about why we did this film. What has been the impression with audiences throughout the world and different festivals that we've been to. I don't know. It's a film from Puerto Rico. If there's any Puerto Ricans here?
[SCREAMS AND HOOTS]
You're gonna notice them; they're the loud people in the audience.
[LAUGHTER]
And anyway, if you're not Puerto Rican, don't feel guilty. You're gonna understand the film. Don't worry, you know, we made it with all of you in mind. But anyway, she's the one who knows how to speak.
Mariem Pérez 0:55
Okay, so this film, this is our first film, our first feature film. It's executive produced by Benicio del Toro, who we met doing short films with him.
[APPLAUSE]
So we started thinking about love stories, we wanted to make a film about love and all the complications that come with it. When we started thinking about it, we wanted to make sure that everything about love was in it. And in the thinking of it and writing it, we came out with all these stories that were about lovesickness instead of love, and all the tragedy that comes with it and all the drama that we've put up with. In Puerto Rico and I'm sure in Latin America in general, we're very dramatic.
[LAUGHTER]
And actually, we enjoy that part of love.
[LAUGHTER]
Carlitos Ruiz 1:56
I think we realized that we enjoy that more than love by itself.
[LAUGHTER]
Mariem Pérez 2:01
Yeah like, if everything is going wrong, we really live it. And we like it.
[LAUGHTER]
And we're very exaggerated with it. So this is about real stories about our friends, our family, our parents, our grandparents. They're all true stories that we put together in these three little stories.
Carlitos Ruiz 2:24
You know, different ages: childhood, adulthood, and the elderly. And we also wanted to portray the common love, not that the love that you see in all the films that is a happy ending, and everything is, you know, a prince and a princess, things like that.
[LAUGHTER]
I don't know why I'm saying that, but it's not a Disney movie. But anyway. So we wanted to just show the claustrophobia, the sickness, the well…
[LAUGHTER]
Mariem Pérez 2:55
The real thing in love.
Carlitos Ruiz 2:57
The real thing that doesn't relate to us. It relates to other people.
[LAUGHTER]
Mariem Pérez 3:02
We’re perfect together, so…
[LAUGHTER]
Carlitos Ruiz 3:05
But we asked a lot of people about it. And that's what we get.
[LAUGHTER]
Mariem Pérez 3:10
So I don't know if you have any questions that we can answer quickly before the film starts.
Audience 3:17
How long did it take you to [INAUDIBLE]?
Mariem Pérez 3:23
Four years in total, since we started writing it, then getting the money and while we were getting the money, we kept writing and rewriting and the process from preproduction to finishing it was a whole year of work.
Carlitos Ruiz 3:41
Yeah, and, but we were lucky enough that in Puerto Rico, when we finished the writing—and we wrote it like in four months, the first draft—the government of Puerto Rico opened funding for new filmmakers. We used to have in Puerto Rico a film every five years and in the last two years, we have had like thirteen films made by Puerto Rican directors.
[APPLAUSE]
And it's because of a funding that the government decided to invest in culture and is paying back now.
What else?
But, you know, we laugh when every time that we say this to the audience, they go like, whoa, and it makes us proud. But we made the film in eighteen days. And we like to say that after you see the film, because then you're gonna say like, wow.
[LAUGHTER]
You know, because it looks well made, you know ...
[LAUGHTER]
Mariem Pérez 4:45
Yeah, but we only had money for eighteen days. So that's why we had to do it in those days.
Carlitos Ruiz 4:53
Yeah, but it was a great experience. Everybody that worked in the film made a work of love. It has cultivated audiences throughout the globe, I don’t know how to say it in English. I'm totally losing my English now. But the last words is that for us, we are very grateful that we made a redemptive film which shows the bad aspects of love. We ended up showing that it’s worth it. That is the only thing that we look for, and that it doesn't matter how claustrophobic, sick ...
[LAUGHTER]
All those words... fucked up …
[CHILD’S LAUGHTER]
You see? That's why we don't show them!
[LAUGHTER]
And that's why we don't show them the film. But it doesn't matter how bad it can get, it’s worth it. It's just those five minutes that you can say, Hey, I'm in love. So we hope you enjoy and maybe we sneak back later. Thanks a lot.
Mariem Pérez 5:51
Thank you.
©Harvard Film Archive
