Filmmaker Interview for “You Didn’t Say Goodnight”
You Didn’t Say Goodnight
Director: Daniel Orué (Argentina)
Nico (35), an Argentinian musician, is kidnapped and abandoned in a desert region in Northwest Argentina called the Calchaquí Valleys. Upon waking, he tries to return home and walks through the region’s extreme heat, even finding his guitar amidst the landscape.
Music Video
MUSIC VIDEO AND ANIMATION SHORTS (11:00 am – 12:30pm)
What inspired you to make this film?
As a filmmaker and, at the same time, a musician and drummer in Nico Leyba’s band, I was inspired by the opportunity to put into practice everything I had been learning and bring that knowledge to the making of the music video from a cinematic perspective. At the same time, my experience as a musician allowed me to approach the song from a different angle and contribute a perspective directly connected to the music. The project was born from the opportunity to bring these two perspectives—the cinematic and the musical—together in the same work.
What does making films mean to you?
For me, making films is an opportunity to express the way I perceive reality and, at the same time, to pursue the purest possible understanding of the truth of life: how we relate to one another, how we communicate with others, and what lies behind those forms of communication. It is also the most sincere way I have found to communicate with others, using the language of cinema as a tool to express things that I might not be able to say in any other way.
What advice would you give to students or beginners who want to make films?
As a film student myself, my advice is to be as honest as possible with yourselves and never be afraid to express who you are. Never settle, and always look for your own way of telling stories and expressing your personality. I also believe it is essential to be aware of the world around us, to connect more deeply with other people and with our own feelings. It is not about copying the filmmakers we admire, but about having references, learning from them, and at the same time finding our own voice, always approaching others and the stories we want to tell with respect.
What films do you watch over and over again?
I don’t necessarily have films that I watch over and over again, but there is one director I always return to: David Lynch. Films such as Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive are works I can revisit because I always discover something new in them. I am especially interested in the way he explores the strange, the unconscious, and what lies beneath apparent reality. His cinema is also an important reference whenever I return to making music videos, because it inspires me to think about the relationship between music and images in a more sensory, atmospheric, and less literal way.
You Didn’t Say Goodnight will screen during the animation film/music video screening on Saturday the 19th that starts at 11:00am!
