By AFRANIO CATANI*
Note about the Argentine screenwriter based in Brazil
It doesn't take long and August 30th will arrive; sad day for me. 30 years ago Alfredo Oroz disappeared in Rio de Janeiro, aged 49. He was born in Colonia Seré, Argentina, in January 1944 and graduated in Cinema from the National University of La Plata in 1970.
Between 1966 and 1979, still in Argentina, he was a screenwriter and director of several short films, namely: Men from RioCtaken wing, The Triumphant, The Rattone, in addition to dozens of institutional film scripts for public and private companies. In 1973 he co-wrote and co-directed the feature film reports and testimonials, documentary about political torture (co-directors: D. Eijo; E. Giorello; R. Moretti; C. Vallina; S. Verga).
He moved to Brazil in 1980 with his wife, teacher, writer and film critic Silvia Oroz. He wrote the screenplay for tropclip (1985), with director Luiz Fernando Goulart, about the story of four friends who set up a production company video. Then, with director Suzana Amaral, he scripted star hour (1985), adaptation for the cinema of the homonymous novel by Clarice Lispector, having received the prize for best script at the XVIII Festival de Brasília do Cinema Brasileiro in 1985. For Oswaldo Caldeira, he wrote the script for the big fool (1990), an adaptation of the novel with the same title, by Fernando Sabino.
Even during the crisis that hit Brazilian cinematographic production in the early 1990s, he was co-author, with director José Antônio Garcia, of the screenplay for The body, being awarded at the XXIX Festival of Brasília in 1991 and at the XXXII Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias (1992).
With director Sérgio Rezende, he wrote the script for Lamarca, Heart in flames, a fictional biography of the life of Captain Carlos Lamarca, a military man who became a guerrilla fighter in the late 1960s and fought the military dictatorship.
Alfredo Oroz was also the author of the scripts for Sweet Revenge (USA, 1976 – dir. J. Schatzberg); Brasilia, the last utopia (episode “Suite Brasilia”), 1990, dir. M. de Oliveira; pure juice (Italy, 1990 – dir. S. Rolla). He has written scripts for TV series, taught courses and seminars in Brazil, Argentina and Cuba and has also received the Governor of the State of São Paulo Awards; Province and Municipality of Buenos Aires; Argentine National Institute of Cinematography; Clio Award 1978 and 1979 (Belgium).
Well, I don't think I need to say that Alfredo Oroz was a great storyteller with a handful. Not long ago, in September 2019, I was working in Rivera, Uruguay, on a cold night, when the wind was howling outside the hotel. I remembered one of the long conversations with Alfredo, who told me something that happened in his wanderings through Patagonia Atlântica, in Argentina, which seemed like one of the tasty episodes written by Bruce Chatwin in in Patagonia.
Alfredo was with a small team, in the interior of the Province of Trelew, filming or looking for locations for the filming of any institutional documentary. A place of aggressive beauty, dry, with the wind sweeping everything. They spot an isolated house and decide to go there. They knock at the door and are greeted by a nice old lady who invites them in; they talk a lot.
She said that she stayed at home alone, days and days, while her husband worked in the fields and took care of the animals. To assuage her loneliness, she learned to play the violin by ear, with the implacable Patagonian wind as her second instrument – she took advantage and played for the three or four people who were there, resulting in an unusual, moving mini-recital.
I traveled, sailing for hours and hours across Lago Argentino, in the Province of Santa Cruz, not far from the Perito Moreno Glacier, in El Calafate, facing a wind that prevented us from staying on deck, as we could be catapulted into the icy turquoise waters. Unfortunately, I soon noticed the complete absence of the first violin.
Alfredo left early, a long time ago, but it doesn't seem like it; I remember him often. Rubem Braga said all that could be said, in the company of friends: “How the years pass! Lately, many years have passed”.
*Afranio Catani is a retired senior professor at the Faculty of Education at USP. He is currently a visiting professor at the Faculty of Education at UERJ, Duque de Caxias campus.
References
AUTRAN, Arthur. Alfredo Oroz.In: CASARES RODICIO, Emilio (Editor and Coordinator). Iberoamerican Cinema Dictionary: Spain, Portugal and America. Madrid: SGAE/Fundación Autor, vol. 6, 2011, p. 444.
BRAGA, Reuben. The company of friends. In: 200 chosen chronicles .Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2013.
CATANI, Afranio Mendes. Alfredo Oroz. In: RAMOS, Fernão Pessoa; MIRANDA, Luiz Felipe (Orgs.). Encyclopedia of Brazilian Cinema. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo/Edições Sesc São Paulo, 3rd. ed. [ampl. and updated.], 2012, p. 525.
CATANI, Afranio. In Patagonia, on the website A Terra É Redondahttps://aterraeredonda.com.br/na-patagonia>, on 16.07.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX.
CHATWIN, Bruce. Na Patagonia (transl. Carlos Eugênio Marcondes de Moura). São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1988.
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