The Tiger and The Deer

I have had the privilege of directing the documentary “The Tiger and The Deer” in my capacity as a student and apprentice of theater in El Salvador. All of the production process transforms into a school of theater in practice for those members of the production team, formed by people with no experience, others with some experience, and others with a lot of experience. In the end, each one learned from the other, returning collective knowledge and learning.

The different points of view are key for provoking other points of view; sometimes conflicting, other times similar but always reflecting on the reality that is observed. The camera as an extension of the eye of the director should respond to some questions before turning it on and recording: What is the position of the camera? What does the camera see? How does the camera see it? I think that the answers to these questions are part of the secret of demonstrating a different view. In the documentary “The Tiger and The Deer,” I decided to look from the position of a spectator at the life of a grandfather of 103 years of age, with a cultural richness in the middle of an extreme poverty, without emphasizing the poverty directly but highlighting the cultural richness, the historical memory, the identity, and the human dignity of the character; making the protagonist not an object but a subject in the cinematographic story.

The camera sees from far away so that priority is given to the context that the character lives and with long observation times in order to achieve that the viewer has more elements of the context and the sufficient time to activate reflection that allows him to go from his passive role to the protagonist of the story as a spectator. The decision of separating the existence of the character is to give priority to the actions of his daily life and after to add dialogue, achieving equilibrium between things made (the actions) and things said (the words). Thus eliminating the boring and traditional interview that encloses people, removing naturalness and freedom of actions and words.

This documentary was produced with the budget of the heart, with this I refer to having many resources and little money, understanding like resources to the people, the filming and editing team, the time that each person dedicated, and above all, the commitment during the three and a half years that the project lasted to see the final work. In present, it is in the phase of release and dissemination at the national and international level thanks to being subtitled in five languages: Spanish, English, Italian, French, and German.