Echo

Author

Diego Alvarez-Parra, Bard CollegeFollow

Date of Submission

Spring 2014

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Film and Electronic Arts; Human Rights

Project Advisor 1

So Yong Kim

Project Advisor 2

Peter Rosenblum

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Echo tells the story of Daniel, a 25 year Uruguayan theatre director who has lived outside of the country for the past 10 years. Daniel comes back to his hometown in the outskirts of Montevideo with the intent to reconnect with his father, the memory of his late mother and his identity. In order to do so, he not only moves back with his father, but also sets up a theatre workshop with the company of four middle-aged women, roughly the same age his mother would been. Before her death, his mother was a famous theatre actress in the years of the dictatorship thus establishing this workshop is his way of paying homage to her memory.

However, little does Daniel know that as soon as he comes home the country is faced by the sudden comeback of the issue of justice, memory and the amnesty law. A campaign spearheaded by former guerrilla members, relatives of the disappeared and supported in part by the government is gathering signatures to call for a referendum for the nullification of the amnesty law. Throughout the film we see the personal and the political intertwine as the truth of Daniel’s late mother is revealed and he is asked to accept, deal and reconciliate with his and his country's past. At the same time, the various perspectives about the military regime and the transition to democracy are explored through the stories of all characters, through historical footage and narration and through the content of the play Daniel works on with the four ladies.

My main intent when writing Echo was to humanize this deeply political and legal aspect of Uruguayan history and to tell the various stories of characters involved in its memory. I proposed to fill the previously mentioned gap with a human and emotional story that treated all points of view respectfully so that the humanity in them could be understood and appreciated. I also decided to make Echo a narrative fiction piece because I believe fiction has the power to reach into the human soul in a way that may prove harder for documentary filmmaking. The following are the various aspects of the film that attempt to answer this problematic question.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Alvarez-Parra, Diego, "Echo" (2014). Senior Projects Spring 2014. 327.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2014/327