25N Interview to Montserrat Larqué
#16daysofactivism campaign as part of the 25 November International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
"I realize now that although I have written male characters, at the moment of writing what comes to my mind are stories with female characters, and all this happens very naturally. That simple thing, the fact that women narrate, provides another point of view and balances everything." States Montserrat.
Montserrat Larqué, Mexican director, screenwriter and producer, studied Communication at the Universidad Iberoamericana with specialization in film and a Master's Degree in Feature Film Screenwriting from the Menéndez Pelayo University with an Ibermedia scholarship. She tells us that she started late in the film industry, developing first in the digital field. Recognizing that he always wanted to make films. He has been completely dedicated to cinema for 6 years.
Since adolescence she knew that she wanted to dedicate herself to the media. She studied Communication with the idea of working in a publishing house.
But one day in the second semester, filming a school short film, I looked into a movie camera at school and everything changed, I was completely seduced by cinema and since then I have been fascinated by everything around it, its people, the work at the set, the script, the logistics, the challenges, the editing.
Even though knowing how to operate in different areas of media, her greatest passion has always been cinema.
Growing up in a traditional family, she was the first wanting to pursue a career in the arts. Her family, noticing the passion and dedication she had, gave her their support so she could achieve this goal. Also her partner, “my partner has trusted and supported the development of my career a lot. He has advocated my talent and my career with much more confidence in me than the one sometimes I have in myself."
There are more men who have generated successful careers, and if one looks at the resumes of filmmakers, there are many more recognized men, simply because they have had more opportunities to develop themselves.
Larqué points out that in some roles within film production such as costumes and makeup there are still not so many men (despite the fact that in the 40's men were the best).
She explains that the most important obstacle she has had to overcome is
self-confidence.
The way we have grown in terms of roles and identities, I believe that men can develop self-confidence more easily than any woman because we have had fewer "role models" of successful careers.
Montserrat admires directors like Ava DuVernay, who attracted female talent by directing a series for the Ophra network and deciding to hire only female directors.
When asking Montserrat how she believes her work as a filmmaker can help reverse issues such as: violence against women, improving the representation and diversity of women on screen as well as the work of women in the film industry, she responded : “In addition to what I mentioned above about Ava, I notice a big difference in the stories told by women. I realize how today I am more interested in seeing stories from the female perspective.”
To finalize her interview, Montserrat shares a conclusion.
Before I did not realize the impact that negative self-perception has on oneself based on patriarchy. I have thought a lot about my grandmothers because they were very discreet and contained women who were always there for others; They were daughters of their fathers, wives of their husbands and mothers of their children. They were part of the discreet women who were always in the background doing the work of supporting other lives. I remember that as a child I saw them everywhere, at parties, in stores, at school; That's how my aunts were, my friends' aunts, their grandmothers. Very few of them launched themselves to do what they wanted or at least asked themselves about what they really wanted. I think that many died without knowing who they were. A week ago at a screening, an actress from my film spoke about the women her role represented, saying something that impressed me to hear: women who are like plants, who are only there living through the lives of others.
