Pygmalion: Tales Of A Premiere
The past days have gone full
Pygmalion mode.
Amy arrived in La Paz on the 16th of March and just before her arrival and until the moment she left for the US on the 24th of the same month, all hands were on the theatrical release of
Pygmalion, Amy’s 5th film as director.
Those incredibly short days were of high intensity, from the moment when Jac went up to the airport to pick up his partner, collaborator of so many years, to the moment when they said good bye with tears in their eyes.
The flight was On Time at 8 45 am … according to the Arrivals Board, but it was almost 9 am. Jac had been waiting for 20 minutes already, he arrived to the airport a bit early, he had a Capuccino with Croissant not long before. After what he considered a good breakfast, he waited, and waited until a message appeared in his phone, it was from Amy: After missing the first approach due to dogs on the runway, we finally landed here in La Paz.
Jac was very happy. Not too long after the message Amy was walking past the gates to an anxiously waiting Jac. Aaron, is behind Amy, not seen in the picture, only his big suitcase.
Soon after Amy arrived to La Paz she was going from press conference to press interviews, to television, to radio, promoting the theatrical release of her film.
She was back in the city where she lived 10 years, made film after film, as a sound recordist at first, an actress later with around 20 films, a producer, a Heskinator, a title given to her because of her abilities in building props, like a rack, making costumes, building crosses and because she’s very handy with all kinds of tools, she was soon a director and script writer, authoring five films… perhaps the most active and productive time for what became to be known as the
Dynamic Duo of Amy and Jac.
During all the time Amy was in La Paz there was a mixture of excitement, anxiety, emotional turmoil and everything in between and beyond. It was many years since Amy and Jac shared the same city, the same house, the same room… It was also a time of a great reunion with the cast and crew of
Pygmalion, after almost 8 years. Most of the team that made Amy’s film what it is, a great meta modern film, was at the premiere with family and friends. Unfortunately some were missing.
The great moment arrived, the
Grand Premiere of Pygmalion at the
Cinemateca, with a great number of guests. After the film was shown the cast and crew went up on stage and they all applauded Amy for her great film. People loved it!
What impressed the most during the first public screening of the film in the world, was Mila’s acting. Perhaps because so much time passed since the time
Pygmalion was produced and edited, everyone had a fresh look at the film, even Amy, who commented to Jac
Mila carries the film, she’s so good. Beto said
It’s a great film and Mila is fantastic!
All the comments in the
after party were in the same tone. Everyone loved the film and they were all impressed with the acting, specially Mila's.
The elusive theatrical release of
Pygmalion was finally here. The first attempt to release it was way back in 2020, everything was all set. A press tour, sponsors, a date for Amy to travel to Bolivia. The release was scheduled for March 26 of that year. It was then that the first case of Covid 19 appeared in the US, and very near where Amy was living at that time. Suddenly, the US was in turmoil, people were told to stay home, no traveling at all. Amy was sorry she wasn’t going to make it to the release of her film.
Jac wanted to postpone it but some people in the team disagreed. Everything was in place and it would look bad on them if the release was cancelled, so the plans to release the film went on but the universe had other plans. Two weeks before the release date, Covid landed in the Andes and all movie houses closed.
Three years later
Pygmalion is FINALLY in movie theaters, sharing the limelight with big Hollywood movies like
Shazam and
John Wick, whatever that is.
Everything went extremely fast during the short time Amy spent in La Paz. One day Amy and Jac were having pizza and beer, the next day Amy was flying back to the US, feeling sick, because all that excitement, tension, turmoil, lowered her defenses, not to mention the altitude and lack of oxygen.
But she was happy and planning to return but for longer time, maybe not ten years, but at least a month.
She took with her the great memories of having another film in the big screen, seeing the friends she has in La Paz adoring her, sharing those intense days with Jac.
For a moment there, it was as if she had never left, for both of them. They were talking, planning, laughing, disagreeing… as if those 8 years hadn’t transpired. But it happened and the extremely brief moment they had in the middle of March, 2023, was suddenly over.
They are both back in their world, with their work, their loved ones, the happy and sad moments they experience far away from each other.
They are back on their separate paths now, Amy preparing to go back to the university where she runs the film program and is a professor with tenure, and back to the preparations of a new film. Jac is back in the set of
69 Anneé Érotique as well as jumping in the quickly approaching production of
Seditiosa.
Pygmalion is in theaters and it will be there for a short time, I expect, films don’t last a long time in multiplexes; however, Amy’s film will soon be released to the world in our many platforms, including our stores, Amazon, Vimeo and others. I’ll be announcing that gigantic universal event soon.
More news soon!
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