‘The Passion of Juana Arcos’, by Miguel Alvear: stories to celebrate 25 years of cinema OchoyMedio (Quito)

The parties before 25 years since the Ochoy Medio cinema (La Floresta sector in Quito) started to take shape as a project in 1997 and was officially launched.

And although for Mariana Andrade, director of the cultural spaceis the best party continue to open the cinema doors and welcome the public week after week, yes, they invited the author Miguel Alvear Lalley to produce a publication (with stories well adaptable to the audiovisual format) around the anecdotes and characters that passed through OchoyMedio, officially inaugurated on September 14, 2001.

“Mariana contacted me in the middle of the pandemic We started to get together, talk and remember certain episodes we had experienced together, because I had been linked to OchoyMedio since the beginning., in many different ways. So it was almost a big part of our lives,” Alvear recalls.

Eventually the publication took shape under the name Juana Arcos’ passion, a character inspired by Andrade. “I I always told Mariana that she has a Joan of Arc complex, because with the sword she wants reality to submit to how she would like. And that has ensured that she has achieved a lot, but that she has also sometimes had confrontations.to not be understood or sometimes misunderstood, But let us say that this way of being – which achieves much and arouses many passions – is good material for everyone. thriller”.

For Andrade, Alvear was always a silent observer and witness to much of the history of the famous cinema. “For me he is the right person to do something like this. I would not easily entrust my personal story to anyone, but I know that Miguel does it in his own way, with humor, with a lot of respect, but also crossing the line and I told him that he was given that freedom. It is a work by Miguel based on us as characters, but it is his work and I like it very much.”

The presentation will take place in Guayaquil on MZ14 (Panama and 9 de Octubre Avenue) this Wednesday, September 13 from 6 p.m., free admission. The book will be for sale on the site.

The cinema, which we call the Felina here, is the stage, but what other characters gather there?

Miguel: There are eight stories, but one episode is dedicated to them the cinema’s relationship with the La Floresta district of Quito, a very diverse neighborhood, where many interests play a role, in addition to the fact that it is a neighborhood where the cultural expressions of that part of the city have gained a foothold and there is sometimes also a dynamic of intention. There is also an episode dedicated to the Ecuadorian Film Awards, where you can see certain features of the film world: but the common thread between all these episodes is Juana’s passion to keep this cinema open at all costs and in that effort many stories have been lived.

Mariana: The only way we have been able to survive is through the passion we have put into all the impossible things we have had. AND So the book tells you about this dynamic of the character, even in the face of opposing political demonstrations, because he has been a character who has experienced this polarization many times, he is a character that they either love or hate.. El Felina, if we talk about the book, is a valley of passions that produce our own stories and that makes the book very dynamic, easy to read, entertaining, and it could be the beginning of what we want, an animated series, because at this point they are quite cartoonish characters, because what Miguel has done is exaggerate our own flaws and virtues.

Who organizes the book presentation in the different cities?

Miguel: In Guayaquil, yes Andres Crespo. While Fidel Intriago will be the host in Manta. Juan Carlos Moya will be in Quito and Galo Alfredo Torresin Cuenca.

Mariana: They have all been part of film history, so not only are they going to read and comment on the book, but so are they They know every character and situation mentioned in the book. We didn’t want the event to just be an interview or a Q&A, but we wanted them to express their participation in the story as well. They are not people from outside, but people who are fully involved and part of the story we tell.

And this is the start of the festivities. What other events do you have planned?

Mariana: Our greatest celebration is to stay alive and remain a space of creative freedom. We are cultural activists and film people and I care very little about the political position of the governments, but if the presidents keep coming and keep thinking that OchoyMedio is the place to solve things, let them come, let them land there and this to hold. space is alive. The best party is to stay put and one day we will return to Guayaquil, although I don’t know when. It has been a dream deferred.

Once again this year they had the privilege of presenting as one of the few locations in Latin America Oppenheimer in 35mm, how did that management happen?

Mariana: It happened because we are still standing room, full of great affection and great recognition in the country and at the regional level. And that means when major distributors like it Oppenheimer, in this case Warner, did a survey to find out which theaters still had 35 millimeters, we stand and with the projector still working. And it was a nice experience, because those who operate the 35 millimeter projector are very young film students, aged 18 and over, who have never known this format before.

And then everything came together: the respect of the distributors to give you the film, having a live 35 millimeter projector and passing on knowledge to the young people and the new generations of cinema of today. So it was a lot of fun and we continued with great premieres.