Rafael Lopez Saubidet

Rafael Lopez Saubidet doesn’t mince words when asked about his directorial passion. “I am an ‘actor’s director’,” he says. “I’m most interested in the world of characters and what happens to them.”

Lopez Saubidet, 26, started directing commercials three years ago after abandoning a career as an actor. Though he’d studied acting in New York and his hometown Buenos Aires, the director’s chair beckoned, as did prodco Argentinacine. After seeing his early short films they offered to develop him in commercials.

A trio of ads for the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival best exemplifies his deliberate approach to character-driven comedy. “Bon Jovi” – in which a group of depressed clowns ostracize a happy-go-lucky coworker – is downright gritty until an expertly placed punch line lands at the end.

His tendency to cut to the emotional bone of an idea, without a lot of sound and fury, has landed him on the roster of Rokkit in the UK and Europe, Spy Films in Canada and La Fabrica for the US Latin market.

How old were you when you started making films?
I must’ve been 19, it was at university. I had to write a short story, no longer than three minutes, and shoot it on Super VHS. It was kind of a love story of a boy who worked in the street doing malabarismos [juggling]. I used two friends as actors and I mainly did what is expected from a non-experienced director: black and white, no dialogue and some strange framing to feel cool.

Name a contemporary filmmaker or visual artist that you admire. Why?
[Director] Andrew Bujalski – because I think he is a modern-day John Cassavetes. What I admire about both of them is the love they obviously have for their actors. I love how they are exploring themes with them, creating as a group and constantly finding their way together. I also like how bare their films are.

Do you think advertising can become a personal expression for a director?
It’s difficult sometimes, but you should stand and defend your ideas. I am not saying that you send a clear message in your commercials, if you want to send a message you go and make your own movie. Q

www.argentinacine.com
www.rokkit.tv
www.lafabrica.tv
www.spyfilms.com

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