Gustavo
Montiel, Producer
Every time I undertake a new project, I wonder what would be the best word
to describe it, something that would make me remember it forever, the key
of its essence. In the case of this project, I would say that it has been
very much paradoxical. At first I did not realize that to direct a series
of short films on fostering dialogue and understanding among communities would
actually mean working with one of the most conflictive and difficult communities:
the film community, and particularly the community of young directors.
Now that we have reached the end of the road, I have to say that it has been
a very enriching experience, a very long and complicated trip in which the
biggest challenge was to find the path to common understanding. People speak
a different language in Burkina Faso, Romania, Mexico, Israel and India, but
in all of those countries, we find common problems of understanding and we
can observe daily confrontations between political and religious groups in
addition to personal conflicts. All of them have a rich history and they have
to face obstacles that very often seem impossible to overcome.
I insist on understanding globalization as an opportunity to communicate our diversity instead of unifying it. I hate the idea of homogeneity and any attempt to unify us, be it through language, systems, methods or beliefs, will only diminish the wealth and complexity of our differences. To know these differences, to communicate them and perhaps to strengthen them, is a fundamental objective for our contemporary world, which can be summarized in the word "understanding". In the production of this series of short films, understanding each other has been a problem in practice, and having achieved this dialogue among us is the real reward.
I thank UNESCO for giving the opportunity to young people from 5 places in the world to express their concerns on a topic that is currently so crucial for human history. The cooperation between schools and the generous intermediation of Rosa Maria Gonzalez made this process one of the most significant in my professional life. I hope that the diffusion of this series will succeed in keeping the question open, in communicating our concern and in facilitating understanding in all those places we would like to reach, hoping that languages, customs and beliefs will manage to conciliate through the challenging and intelligent vision of our young people.