A certain Alonso Quijano

For Alonso Quijano, professor of literature and expert in Don Quixote de la Mancha, the thin line between sanity and madness snaps.

One day and from that day forward, his accomplice, veterinary assistant Santos Carrasco, travels through the Professor’s past to discover that his madness is but an escape from pain and into the definitive refuge found in fantasy.

A Certain Alonso Quijano is a tragicomedy that explores the ins and outs of the human mind.

Don Alonso and Lorenza don their respective costumes to escape from what they feel incapable of facing, dressing as others to resist and keep from revealing their open wounds. But when this escape from self finally proves impossible they are forced to see themselves through their own bodies, their own faces, setting aside the pain and moving on.

Between sanity and madness,
very thin line is.

	Drama – Comedy
	Colombia / 2019 / 1h 43m
	Spanish
	English subtitles
Screenplay and direction	Libia Stella Gómez Díaz
Producers	Sebastián Caballero Wilmer Daniel Moya Exler Felipe Puerta
Executive Producers	Libia Stella Gómez Díaz Sebastián Caballero Wilmer Daniel Moya Exler Felipe Puerta
Director of photography	Diego Gama Romero
Sound designer	Julián Camilo Sánchez
Production designer	Alirio Cruz Cabrera
Art director	Julián Álvarez
Editor	Juan Carlos Sánchez
Music	José David Esmoris Desarme Rock Social
Cast	Álvaro Rodríguez Manuel José Sierra Brenda Quiñonez

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

A Certain Alonso Quijano is a mixed bag of a film. It is a tragicomedy/thriller/musical narrated in two moments in time; a story from the perspective of four different characters.

The visual and musical design fuses baroque and punk aesthetics, reality and imagination, the 1980s and the present, laughter and tears, revelation and concealment.

The film reflects on the human face, or mask, as Alonso disguises himself to flee from pain, Santos becomes a librarian so as not to lose his status, Lorenza uses punk culture to find a place to fit in, and Ferney dresses in silk to lift his family out of poverty.

The ancient and the modern conjoin to create delirium out of eclectic sound.

Melancholy baroque-inspired pieces dialogue with the frenzied stridency of Bogota’s punk performances and the story’s fictional universes grow out of this musicality. Don Quixote and Dulcinea are expressed in the bowed strings of the violin, viola, cello, and bass and in harp, piano, and harpsichord arpeggios. Lorenza’s world, however, is defined by a distorted electric guitar, fast-pace eighth notes on snare and bass drum, and loudly projected vocals that overwhelm the microphone, producing the occasional feedback. The low frequencies of the electric bass attack as they lay the

rhythmic foundation. The music of A Certain Alonso Quijano grew out of compositional experimentation and sound design, aimed always at capturing the synergy of players performing together, both in the studio and in concert. A parallel search through Bogota’s underground music scene supplied the missing element with which to build an authentic soundtrack: The band Desarme Rock Social contributed their music and participated in the production of the film’s original tracks, “La herida del adiós” and the punk-Cervantean “Dulcinea” that closes the story.

THE DIRECTOR

Libia Stella Gómez Díaz is a film and television director with a master’s degree in Theory and History of Art and Architecture from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She wrote and directed “Ella”, released in theaters in 2015, which won her Best Director at the Kolkatta International Film Festival in India in November 2015, and a number of other recognitions. Researcher and director of the documentary feature, “El traje nuevo del Emperador “, distributed on digital platforms in 2014. Researcher and director of the documentary feature, “Arista Son”, which premiered in September 2011.

Screenwriter and director of “La historia del baúl rosado “, which premiered in cinemas in November 2005 and won an Ibermedia Development and Co-production Grant. She is the author of “La mosca
atrapada en una telaraña: Buñuel y ‘Los Olvidados’ en el contexto latinoamericano
“, a work of film criticism and analysis, and of the articles, “De qué hablan los
guionistas” (“What Writers Speak About”) and “El papel de director” (“The Role of
the Director”) for a series of film primers published by Bogota’s Cinemateca Distrital.

“La historia del baúl rosado” and “Ella” posters

Sancho Panza

Alvaro Rodriguez

Born in Bogotá, Rodríguez is a trained actor well recognized for his many theater, film, and television performances. He is best known for his starring television roles in “NN”, “Sabor a limón”, “Fuego verde”, “¿Por qué diablos?”, “La lectora” and famed screenwriter Fernando Gaitán’s “Hasta que la plata nos separe”, as well as his performance in “El cartel de los sapos”.

Rodríguez has starred in the feature films “La gente de la universal” (1991), “Golpe de estadio” (1998), “Bolívar soy yo” (2002), “Perder es cuestión de método” (2004), “Soñar no cuesta nada” (2006), “La historia del baúl rosado” (2005), “El Colombian Dream” (2006), “Doctor Alemán” (2008), “Todos tus muertos” (2008), “Locos” (2011), “Ciudad Delirio” (2014), and “Perros” (2017).

His role as Sergeant Hernandez in the film “La gente de la Universal” earned him Best Actor at the 1994 New England Latin American Film Festival and Best Actor at the 1996 New York Latin American Film Festival.

The visual and musical design fuses baroque and punk aesthetics, reality and imagination, the 1980s and the present, laughter and tears, revelation and concealment.

Don Quixote
de la Mancha

Manuel José Sierra

Theater director, playwright, poet, and CEO of the Domus Teatro theater group and the Domus Theater in Cali, Sierra also founded and codirected the Barquito de Papel and Memorias de Teatro magazines. He taught theater arts for more than 30 years and founded the Cali Theater Festival (2002-2011). Author of an extensive production of stories, poetry, and plays, some of which he staged with Domus, including “Lucila Flores”, “Partituras del deseo”, “Canto del espantapájaros en la noche del Año Viejo”, “La memoria del viento”, “Vitralia”, and “El candil del candelero” , as well as several stage adaptations of world renowned works.

Manuel

José

Sierra

RIP

OUR DON QUIXOTE ABANDONED US HALFWAY THROUGH SHOOTING

After battling windmills to bring the film to life, on November 24 and with 40% of the film still to film, Manuel José Sierra, Don Quixote de la Mancha, suffered a disastrous accident, falling to his death. It was a difficult time, but our blind faith in the film allowed us to recover quickly and we were rolling again in January. We change some scenes to subjective. Actor/ puppeteer Iván Álvarez acted as our double for Quixote and, using a mask and the magic of cinema we were able to ressurect MANUEL JOSÉ on screen.

Iván

Álvarez

DOUBLE
ACTOR

Dulcinea

Brenda Quiñones

Is an actor and a performing arts graduate of the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas in Bogotá, Colombia. Her theater, cultural, and artistic experiences over the past nine years have included work in community and pedagogical areas as well. She began her career with Mapa Teatro and studying with Elsa Gutiérrez of Colombia’s Universidad Nacional, and in productions such as Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice”, Tchaikovsky’s “Characteristic Dances” (with the Conservatory Youth Orchestra), where she developed her voice and singing abilities. Her social work with the ARCCO Foundation (Colombian Art for the Community) under the direction of Lukas Maecha and Melina Sojo, provided her

with communication and improvisation tools for working with audiences of all ages in productions such as “El baúl de Pombo”, “Alicia y las nueve lunas”, and “Silverio Silva Cantor”. She currently collaborates in the Singing for the Stage research program at the ASAB (Superior Arts Academy of the Universidad Distrital Francisco de José de Caldas) and in Camerata Graduale under the direction of Maestro Andrés Rodríguez Ferreira, who continues to accompany her in her ongoing training. In 2018, she starred in director Cesar Morales Figueroa’s rock opera, “El circulo de sal” , adapted from Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”.