‘The canon’ or the drama of the statuesque and invisible Haitian immigrants in Chile

Any migratory movement it drags misunderstandings, cultural differences and uprootings; If there is a language barrier, the problems multiply. But what happens when those who emigrate have physiques worthy of being admired, even if it is with the coldness and distance of a sculpture?

That is, roughly speaking, the starter motor of ‘The Canon’a short film in which the Chilean Martín Seeger (Santiago de Chile, 1983) narrates the drama of the Haitian immigrants who arrived in his country in 2010, when the devastating earthquake occurred that left tens of thousands of dead and whose consequences The Caribbean nation still lives today.

“In Chili we had never had an Afro-descendant population; So, a kind of fascination was generated, in parallel with a kind of discrimination. You saw Haitian workers in construction doing precarious jobs that Chileans did not want to do; but, at the same time, with impressive bodies and physiques”explains Seeger to EFE in Buenos Aires, where he presented his short film within the framework of the Independent Film Festival (Bafici).

The director, whose idea came from a story by the Venezuelan writer Leoncio Martínez, which he adapted to this drama within Chilean society, adds that it is generated “extreme marginality” due to the language barrier, which generated numerous adaptation problems.

The protagonist is Jean, a Haitian migrant in Chile, an exemplary worker and model of classical beauty in an art school. He is also a perfect body for medicine, as he represents all the classical values ​​of the academy. But in the anonymity and silence imposed by the lack of knowledge of the language he is a canon of marginality.

“The character does not understand Spanish to understand what the Academy is talking about regarding its aesthetic proportionality, the anatomical archetype it represents,” says Seeger, who chooses a staging “distant and cold” To generate “a kind of contrast between tragedy and a certain black humor,” what an escape from “the traditional emotion of empathy” in a case like this.

This way, “the short tries to find an intermediate tone between discomfort and drama” and avoids, according to its creator, “make a judgment about what is right and what is wrong.”

Inspired by the Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki and the Swedish Roy Andersson for this narrative, Seeger looked for a Haitian immigrant to play his protagonist – who does not speak throughout the film – and found him in Camilus Berdouay, who went through situations similar to those reflected. onscreen.

“He identified a lot with the short. Apart from being handsome, giant, muscular, at the same time he works as a laborer, he has a lot of heavy lifting. He suffered from this permanent admiration of the body and absolute oblivion of its reality.”says the creator of ‘Piotr: Una mala traducación’, a feature film that was presented at the Bafici 2010 and which was screened at the Málaga Festival (Spain) 2011.

Of the 1.6 million foreigners residing in Chile, some 190,000 are Haitians – the fourth most populated community, after Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. But “by not being able to fit in” In their culture, Seeger says, many undertook the search for better conditions in other countries. Therefore, beyond Europe being a goal “that gives exposure”, he hopes that his short film will follow these migrants and make “a Latin American route.”

After going through an edition of Bafici marked by cuts in the cultural allocation of Javier Milei’s Executive, the Chilean filmmaker recognizes that the situation “is a tragedy” for the art world, because “Argentina “It was always a very bright focus of public policies that have allowed not only the industry to develop, but also an incredible exploration of audiovisual language that has had an impact throughout the world.”

Consider that this “impacts the entire region”given that “It is more difficult for Chile to aspire or set Argentina as a goal if it no longer exists”says Seeger, who trusts that the Government of Gabriel Boric will increase the contribution of the national budget dedicated to culture in Chile.

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