Watch the film (v.o SPA /FR - Subs ENG) from 18/10 to 22/10 Book a place
Q&A with the director Nicolás Videla: 26/10 h.19 (UK) Book a place
SYNOPSIS
“The Devil’s Magnificent” tells the story of Manu (33), Chilean trans immigrant who tired of the hostility and instability in Paris, decides to return to Chile after 10 years in France. In these last days she will go over different paths of love and sex, conveyed by her memories. Daniel (57), a French friend and academic, offers her a new life with him in Marseille, a marriage, a solution to her immigration issues. But just when Manu realizes her future may not be romantic, but subsidiary, a traveller will bring romance back into her life.
Original Title: El diablo es magnífico
English Title: The Devil´s Magnificent
Duration: 68 min / color /
Country: Chile
Year: 2016
Sitio Web: facebook.com/lediableestmagnifique
CREW
Director: Nicolás Videla
Producer: Sebastián González
Script: Nicolás Videla, Sebastián González & Manuela Guevara
Assistant Director: Leo Lebel---Canto
Assistant Producer: Javiera Bonnefoy
DP and Camera: Sebastián Pose & Nicolás Videla
Editor: Nicolás Videla
CAST
Manuela Guevara
Viktor Philip
Daniel Larrieu
Isabelle Ziental
Vincent Frachey
Charles Djengue
Leeo Lebel---Canto
Alejandro Soto
Alejandra Soto
Fabian Hengbart
Cedric Deneubourg
Tony Zarouel
Diomandé Yves Solas
Vincent Frachey
ABOUT THE FILM
The film is the second feature directed by Nicolás Videla, and produced by Sebastián González (Maltrato Films, Chile), both scriptwriters with Manuela Guevara. Through a poetic and autobiographical approach the film creates a fictional exploration based on the main character life through a personal perspective, rather than claiming to be representative of a collective experience. She elegantly walks through Paris talking to her---self, to us, debating on her life, desires and becomings, in a search for a different kind of freedom. But the city that usually draws an elegant landscape also involves the violent reaction of an occidental society.
The powers of the false, the artifice and simulacrum are the essence of cinema, but are also inherent to our presence in today’s world. Manu exercises the act of creating characters in her own life. As she threatens to be more than a man or a woman, others create a wrong or at least confusing idea of her, founded on the ghosts of her appearance. Life has always confronted her with difficult situations by choosing her own way of dressing and being, but at the same time she cannot escape from it because it’s the only thing she can hold on to.
Nicolás Videla was born on 1988 in Santiago, Chile. She is a filmmaker, queer producer and performer most known by his drag name ‘’Amnesia Letal’’. Her opera prima was “Naomi Campbel” (2013) and her second film was “The Devil’s Magnificent” (2016). Founder and executive producer of the production company CINESPECIE, where she is developing her third film ‘’Travesía Travesti’’ (2021).
Manuela Guevara (born in 1984 in Santiago, Chile) lives these days in Paris, for about 12 years. Manuela is a transgender activist and intellectual, currently exploring the field of Intangible Heritage at different organizations. Her work drove her to France for studying, but the freedom she went on to find is what really moved her to the first world. Her interests in politics, arts, dance and French, driven by her grandma Olga, are the motors in her life. “The Devil’s Magnificent” is based on her own reflections and writings, her perfume and poetry. This film is a showcase of what life has been to her in these last few years. A thoughtful and feminine approach to a non---binary being, an immigrant trying to believe in love, sex and opportunities. An intimate take on the loves and humans that had come upon her in life, the opportunities and the violence she had to face.
Daniel Larrieu (born 1957 in Marseilles, lives and works in Paris) started as a professional dancer at the beginning of the Eighties. He then continued to experiment, trying to renew his creativity through his interest in other artistic disciplines. A choreographer for National centres and dance companies he also teaches in various Institutions in France.
The originality of his choreographic language was recognised in 1982 with an award at the Concours de Bagnolet. For over 10 years, he continued to diversify his experiences, passing from the gardens of Palais Royal where he practices, to Angers swimming pool where he created the surprising Waterproof, attempting to continually renew his practice through diverse choreographic, artistic, scenographic and musical encounters. Considered a prominent figure in contemporary French dance, his work takes in the adventure of 80s dance, his experiments, his daring and unconventional settings.
Sebastian González Vildoso (1987) is a film Major who graduated from Universidad de Chile.
Executive Producer, art manager and LGBTQ activist. Founder and executive producer of MALTRATO Films, a production company focused on collaborative and innovative audiovisual projects, created in interdisciplinary alliances, crafted by a sorority of artists and technicians. Selected by CinemaChile and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to represent Chile at Rotterdam LAB for emerging producers, CineMart IFFR 2017, one of the most important laboratories for new voices from all over the world. Attendee to International Markets of Ventana Sur (ARG), European Film Market (DE), Tribeca Industry Network (USA), and NALIP Media Summit in Los Angeles CA, by the National Association of Latin American Independent Producers in USA. In relationship with other audiovisual fields, Sebastian González worked as Producer of the Biennale of Media Arts of Chile (2016-2017), and was head of the 3D production company RedCyan Films, were he developed and produced Stereoscopic films, side by side with LG Electronics. Today he is dedicated to initiatives that dialogue between science, art and technology, co-creating projects with Natalia Cabrera (NYU Master from Interactive Telecommunications Program ITP), and Juan Ferrer (Director of Museo del Hongo) that transport you to the Fungi kingdom, through art, science and technology.
DISCUSSANT INTRODUCING THE Q&A SESSION
Cüneyt Çakırlar is Associate Professor in film and visual culture at Nottingham Trent University. His research practice focuses on gender/sexuality studies and visual culture in national and transnational contexts. Çakırlar has taught on LGBTQ filmmaking at various institutions including UCL (UK), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), and Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey). He co-edited a volume about cultures of sexual dissidence in Turkey (Cinsellik Muamması [The Sexuality Conundrum], 2012), and co-translated Judith Butler’s Bodies That Matter into Turkish (2014). His articles appeared in Cineaction, Screen, [in]Transition, and New Review of Film and Television Studies. Çakırlar also worked with arts institutions including Paul Kasmin Gallery (USA), Zilberman Gallery (Germany), and Arter (Turkey).
CONTACT US: dmissero@brookes.ac.uk