Recently, Carlos Lascano, who is an award-winning director was in Mumbai to conduct a masterclass in filmmaking. He was also here to promote his new film, Lila which will premier on Star Movies Select HD in September. Lila is a part of the Select Short Stories. The Argentian writer-director is well known for his works in animation and illustration. He is a multi-faceted artist who has successfully made incursions into painting, illustration and comics. I caught u with him to pick his brains about filmmaking, direction and a lot more. Here’s what he had to say.
Tell us a little about how you got started on this path.
I come from a family with strong artistic and academic formations. My parents are both lawyers and artists at the same time. My father paints and my mother loves to write! I actually went to law school and I finished my studies as a lawyer. Even if I never worked as a lawyer, those years in the university left some strong concepts about philosophy, sociology, and other amazing humanistic thoughts and values. During my university years, I was still working on paintings, exhibitions and short films. Before finishing the career, and while I was still in my early 20s, I founded my first production company and it went better than I could’ve imagined at that age. I discovered I could make a very decent living out of it and that is when I decided to spend the whole of my life devoted to art creation.
Where does your passion for animation and illustration come from and how does that merge with your artistic style of direction?
I always loved to tell stories despite the technique I was using to do it. Animation came as a natural way to express mixing both passions: storytelling and drawing skills. However, I always felt that to stick to only one technique would be limiting myself and that is why I decided to experiment by mixing different ones and creating new approaches to visually narrate my stories. During this time of discovery, I found a particular graphic style that was a consequence of my personal taste, my references, and in a strange way, mixed new technologies with old techniques.
What do you think is the most captivating part of film-making? Why do you do it?
There are many moments and all of them are magical. I love working with the actors and discovering the hidden side of the characters. I love working with musicians to find ways to tell the story in a complementary way through music. I think that the most captivating part is the possibility to play with time! This is something that we do at the moment editing a film. Playing with time is something that we cannot do in our daily lives since everything is linear and happens in a strict order. Remembering our life and editing a film have a lot of things in common. The idea of applying these instinctive processes to a craft and finding techniques to play with it is something that I find captivating.
What would you say are some of the most essential qualities every film-maker and aspiring director should have?
The ability to visualize things, to imagine the film when it is still just an idea. If we imagine the film in our heads before making it, then it would be easier to overcome the difficulties we will face during the filmmaking process and deal with it accordingly. Good filmmakers are visionaries and that is what gives them the strength to lead a team, follow a dream and of course, passion and perseverance. Succeeding in something as difficult and competitive as making films requires a lot of sacrifices and an enormous amount of love and energy. Perseverance is crucial. Failing once, twice, thrice won’t matter as long as we have enough passion.
On that note, what makes the great ones stand out from the good ones?
I would say the ability to communicate an idea regardless of the medium. To overcome the technique and reach the spectator’s heart. Also, a lot of luck!
Directors are always looking to be inspired by things. What is something that has inspired you all your life?
What inspires me the most, is life! This is why I used to travel so much and get to know people. I love new cultures! This is why I am so impressed here in India because I found in this beautiful country a lot of passionate people with a lot of creativity and energy. So the inspiration for me comes from experiences and experiences come when you are living your life strongly.
Talking about inspiration, could you tell us a little about your new short film, LILA? What was the idea and inspiration behind that?
Lila is about a girl who is trained to fudge reality with the small drawings she makes in her notebook. This comes from a game I used to play when I was a kid. When I was worried, I would open a magazine, cover a part of the picture with a piece of paper and draw the rest of it with my imagination. In time, I realized that it was something beautiful that I was doing. I was creating some sort of a story or some artwork. So I created a character who does exactly what I would do in my daily life.
If you had to tell aspiring film-makers two things, what would they be?
First of all, have passion! You need to have a passion for what you’re doing. If you are here to make films then please do it with passion and always believe in what you are doing. The second thing you need is perseverance. Do not be disappointed, because everything that you do is going to be difficult. You need to continue trying and don’t worry about mistakes. Everyone makes them, including me.
Lastly, do you have a message for your fans in India?
I am impressed with the people in India and I would love to come to India more often. I have two things to say! Firstly, I would love to see more short films, more creations from Indian filmmakers and secondly, I would love one day to do something here.
So there you have it. If you’re an aspiring director and you wanted some advice from a pro, you’ve got everything you need. Make sure you check out his new short film, Lila as well.
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