PRESS CONFERENCE
JAIME HUMBERTO HERMOSILLO
This year in the framework of the 43rd International Thessaloniki Film Festival, New Horizons presents the work one of the most successful Mexican cinematographers of the last 20 years, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, with the screening of 6 of his films. The director of the New Horizons section, Dimitris Eipides, characterised Hermosillo as an outstanding director and a protagonist of independent cinema in Mexico: "He's a pioneer in many ways, a director who dared to touch upon taboos in his country. Despite having directed 22 feature films, Hermosillo is not very well known in Europe and hardly in Greece. His work is being presented in Greece for the first time".

Career retrospect
Mr. Hermosillo did a flashback on his career saying: "I began as an avid fan of cinema. The only cheap form of entertainment available in my hometown, Aguas Callientes, was cinema. At 21 when I was living in Mexico City, I enrolled at the first Mexican school of cinematography and began to share my passion for cinema with others. I then managed to buy a 16mm camera and began to shoot my first films with friends and family as the actors. Forty years later I continue to do the same thing. I still have the same passion for cinema, I enjoy watching films and in my new films like eXXXorcismos I still try to collaborate with friends, although now, they're professional well-known actors".
Referring to the difficulties he encounters with the screening of his films in Mexico -considering the profound homosexual references- Hermosillo said: "It isn't just the overt way that I present homosexuality in my films. In some of my early films there were no homosexuals. Regardless, they still provoked and disturbed the authorities as well as a portion of the audience because they revealed the hypocrisy of our society. Therefore, it isn't just a matter of sexuality but of the economy and the way some people use sexual abuse to maintain their power in it. Making films is like dreaming. In cinema you're free to imagine anything. The problem, though, doesn't lie in the cinema screen but in everyday reality and this must change".

eXXXorcismos
When asked about his film, eXXXorcismos, Mr. Hermosillo said: "The film's budget amounted to a mere 10,000 dollars. The actors and technicians received no pay. We managed to complete it with nearly no money. The advancements in technology allowed us to shoot the film in 6 days. Post-production and music editing -which was written for the film- took another 16 days. In a period of less than a month this digital film was ready for screening. This is record time in my country".

The Mexican director went on to talk about the way he works. "I'm very experienced with filming. Shooting Homework and Bathroom intimacies took only a few days. We saved time because we only shot in one location and didn't have to move the equipment. The quality and recall of good actors is also extremely important. I usually collaborate with actors that I've worked with in the past. We are a kind of clique. I enjoy improvisation but not as much as giving freedom of expression to the actors and myself during the filming. I wrote the script for eXXXorcismos in a completely untraditional manner. I only had 20 pages, mostly monologues, but I felt no need to put down the action. That's why I used a video camera. Despite the fact that as a screenwriter I've been awarded numerous times and had the chance to work with Gabriel Garcia Marces writing screenplays, I still prefer to write with the camera".

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