From Netflix The Man Who Loved UFOs (El Hombre Que Amaba Los Platos Voladores) tells the story of Argentine television journalist José de Zer and his cameraman Chango. It’s 1986 and they travel to La Candelaria in Córdoba after receiving “an unusual proposal from two shady individuals,” explains a plot synopsis on the website of the San Sebastian Film Festival, where the film celebrated its world premiere on Tuesday. “Upon arriving at the village, there’s not much to see, just a burned field surrounded by hills. What happened next was the work of a genius in the art of exaggeration with a hidden talent: the ability to create the most well-known audiovisual recording of the existence of the alien presence in the history of Argentine television.”
Or, as Netflix says in its summary: “What follows is the invention of the most famous alien sightings in the history of Argentine television.”
Yes, the film is inspired by a real person and a true story, little known outside Argentina (at the moment).
Director Diego Lerman (Refugee, A kind of family), who co-wrote the screenplay with Adrián Biniez, hopes to change that. His cast, which brings the story to life, includes Leonardo Sbaraglia (Pain and glory, Bird Box Barcelona) depicting de Zer, who died in 1997, Sergio Prina, Osmar Nuñez, Renata Lerman, Maria Merlino, Daniel Araoz, Mónica Ayos, Norman Briski and Agustín Rittano.
The film will have its world premiere on Netflix on October 18.
Lerman spoke with DAY on the reasons that led him to dedicate himself to this story, on the return to the 80s, on fake news and on whether or not he believes in UFOs.
You have explored domestic violence in Refugee and adoption in A kind of family. Now you are telling us the story of an entertainment journalist who claimed to have evidence of UFOs. What prompted you to that story and what themes did you want to explore?
Well, this is a film I have wanted to make for many years. I used to spend my holidays in Cordoba, where the story takes place, so I remember the stories and I always wanted to write something about them. I remembered the character of José, so I started doing some research and that made me think there was an interesting film to make about him and the origin of fake news, for example.
At the same time, as a director, I wanted to make a film about the creation of fiction. Jose, our character, can be a director at the same time. He is in the middle of the mountains, fighting for more resources and trying to tell stories with the locals, and at the same time he thinks like a director.
It is also a film about beliefs, the mystery of what can be or not be, the meaning of life or the mystery of death. So, more seriously, there is a film about this: belief, what you can call religion, or whatever you want, whatever you choose.
So there are different levels, different layers that I wanted to develop. It's a kind of comedy, so I try to tell everything through the eyes of Jose, a character who starts to lose his mind and mix fiction and reality. The point of view is very important. But what I try to build all depends on the point of view from which you see things.
As a child, did you believe in UFOs or did you ever think that aliens might visit us?
In Cordoba, there are always strange lights that people used to observe in the skies. And I remember that I never thought that it was a UFO. But why not? I don't know. Last year, NASA officially declared that they had documents about their existence. Jose was a bizarre character, but for me he is very interesting. He was someone who tried to build fiction and history and had a great hunger to tell stories that people began to believe.
How much did you feel you had to emphasize to the viewers the possible connections with the present, instead of leaving the story in its historical context??
Well, you know, the media in the 80s was much more innocent in a way. There were, at least in Argentina, only four television channels and one news program per channel. Now, we have information all the time. In the movie, it says that this is the television of the future when he goes to his boss. He is a kind of visionary in a very innocent way, right? Because he is trying to sell a story, not more. But what he saw is that the news show could be a business at the same time.
At some points while watching the movie, including the ending, I wasn't sure where reality ended and fiction began. I guess you did that on purpose?
The film does the same thing that José did. You don't know if it's real or not. It's all this machine of fiction to build a dream or whatever in your imagination. And I did the same. It was so much fun and so beautiful to make the film. I enjoyed it so much, like a child. The film shows that this is a machine that will make you dream for a moment.
It sounds a bit like the same thing I hear people say when they watch the news these days…
When Jose argues with his boss, he says that this is what people want. People are tired of hearing bad news, of talking about economic and political problems. They want something to believe in.
Aside from the protagonist's original television accounts, was there much material about him and his life that you could draw on to craft your narrative?
You don't know much about this character. He did his public stuff, but he protected his private life. So I imagined a lot.
Since it's all about TV and imagination, how early or how late did you decide how to end this film and with what image?
This is film number seven for me. With the previous ones I've done as a writer and director, I've always wanted to find the end, and it always came, sometimes during the shooting. With this film in particular, I knew this was the end from the very first moment. I didn't know a lot of things, but I had this really, really clear image and how to get there. It was completely clear from the very beginning that this was the end.
What was the most difficult thing about this film?
The most difficult thing for me was working with visual effects. I had never used them before or only in small quantities. [doses]. So, on this particular project, it was really challenging. I had to study it and I had a lot of people helping me, and the person in charge of visual effects. It was something new to me, but I always love things that I don't know, challenges.
Now that you've started dealing with UFOs, what story do you want to tackle next?
I have a new idea that I don't want to spoil, but it's kind of connected to this project. It has some relation to the time period.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
The person who played the role of Jose's daughter is my daughter. So it's like a kind of play with real life [and fiction again].
Also, I work with a team that I have worked with on several films, and we had a lot of fun making this film. It was like a party.
Diego Lerman
Courtesy of Netflix