Diego Luna: Hispanics must unify as a bloc to gain ground in int’l cinema
By Paula Escalada Medrano
Madrid, Sep 23 (EFE).- Mexican actor, director and producer Diego Luna, this year’s recipient of the Platino Awards for Ibero-American Cinema’s career-achievement honor, said the countries of that region must come together as a bloc to bolster their presence and standing in international cinema.
Just days before accepting the Platino Award of Honor, the 41-year-old “Milk” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien” actor, director of the 2014 American biopic “Cesar Chavez” and winner of a Platino best-actor award for his role as a drug lord in the Netflix crime drama television series “Narcos: Mexico” reflected in an interview with Efe on his career in cinema, television and theater.
Question: What’s it like to receive a career-achievement award at age 41?
Answer: Well, I do feel old, but that happens to me every morning. I can’t blame the prize for that. I’m very appreciative because it’s nice for recognition to come when you can still do things, when they mean something in your career and can motivate you to keep going and take on new challenges. It’s come at a time when I feel I have a lot to do and explore. And it reminds me that I started very young, doing theater at age six and movies at age 11. But I’m not tired or fed up, just the opposite.
Q: What do you think about the existence of the Platino Awards in terms of unifying the world of Ibero-American cinema?
A: It’s essential that we see ourselves more as a bloc, to realize that what connects and brings us together is much greater than what makes interaction impossible. We’ve allowed our borders to define us. We’re terribly fractured. Little is known about Mexican cinema in Spain. Little is known about Colombian cinema in Mexico. And we need to interact much more freely. Think as a bloc, like what occurs with films in English that are seen in all English-speaking countries. I appreciate that the Platinos (whose eighth awards gala will be held on Oct. 3 in Madrid) make this effort to bring us together and remind us that we’re a community that should stay united.
Q: What’s your main creative driving force?
A: My children and exploring my fatherhood. I think it’s the most important thing I’ve done in my life. My life has become much more simple because everything I do today has to do with them. It’s crucial that it has meaning for them … Everything I do as a producer, and above all as a director, is a constant reflection of where I am in terms of my fatherhood, the revelations it’s brought me.
Q: You said earlier that awards motivate you to grow. What are your dreams today?
A: To be close to my daughter and my son, see them grow up. The pandemic made me certain of that. There’s no point in being able to go all over the place if you’re not where you need to be, which for me is near my children and my father. EFE
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