14th of March 2010
Ginger Gentile: film producer
by: Kelsey Marie Bell | 10 September 2009printed in: Edition 57 | section: BA Lives: the x-pat files
Ginger Gentile graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history in 2002 and decided to learn Spanish to be a union organiser in New York for The Garment Workers Union. After taking a month-long intensive Spanish course in Guatemala and travelling in Cuba, she arrived in Buenos Aires and has been living here ever since. Now the co-founder of bilingual film company San Telmo Productions, she is hard at work on a variety of different projects. While her husband jokingly calls himself “her inspiration”, motivation does not seem to be something the talented 28-year-old lacks.
What is the film industry like in Argentina?
Argentina has a well-established movie making tradition. Argentina started making films one year after the Lumière brothers [usually credited with having made the first movie in 1895]. It became the hub for movies in the Spanish-speaking world until the late 50s and 60s when many works became increasingly artistic and for smaller audiences instead of commercial and for larger audiences. Because this trend has remained, the industry remains largely under the radar of the general public.
How do you think working in the industry here is different than working US?
Here, with the same or even a lower budget not only you can go up in quality. That’s why we are trying to attract international businesses. The people we can afford to work with here will be people who have won awards for their work. In the US for that same amount of money we could only afford to pay someone just starting out. There are also many female technicians working in Argentina; in fact, half of all those working are female. I watched the making of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ [made in the States] and there was only one woman in the entire huge crew! She was the makeup girl! For me, Argentina is much less machista than people think.
Outside of the film industry how have you seen this play out?
I would say that machismo in every society is different. But, as someone who has lived here for some time, I find Argentina much less machista and sexist than the US. Overall, sex is treated differently in Argentina. It’s not moralised as it is other places. Nudity is much more common; the other night I was watching a show about vedettes at 11pm and they were showing these girls naked talking about how they put their thongs on.
Still, a lot of the films I make, especially the one we are working on now, ‘The Hooker and the Transvestite’, involve sexual subjects that make some people uncomfortable. Talking about sexuality is less common than showing explicit images. I made a film about a woman who has an orgasm in public from a head scratcher. For me, it was more modest than a lot of what I have seen because she had all her clothes on, but many people here were shocked. Talking about that type of sexual response is rare. There are many women who don’t even understand their own sexuality.
Besides pushing the envelope in this respect, what’s another goal of your films?
Our new project about slum girl soccer, ‘Goals for Girls’ does something that we look to do as much as possible in our films – it breaks stereotypes. First, girls don’t play soccer in Argentina. Secondly, these girls live in Villa 31 – one of the largest shantytowns in Buenos Aires. Most people assume that anyone living in a villa is a thief or a victim, and they can’t relate to them. But the girls we worked with are so full of energy! They love to dance, they listen to music on their cell phones, they talk back, they fight with their parents, they fight with their teachers sometimes. We wanted to show these girls with big dreams, who want to be everything from a doctor to an actress to play football. These details made me realise that they are worth investing in, and the viewer can relate to this as well.
Do you actively try to draw attention to these kinds of social issues?
Definitely, but we want to do it in a way that is palatable. One thing that we want to bring to Argentine cinema is show these horrible life situations in a funny or entertaining way. There are topics that we’re interested in that have harsh realities, but we want to tell the story in a way that the people involved aren’t victims. When you put someone in the role as a victim, you dehumanise them. It’s easy to say: “Well I’ve never lived in a villa, I’ve never been that poor. These people are just victims and they’re always going to be like that. What is there to do?”
For more information about San Telmo Productions and all of their latest projects check out their website, www.santelmoproductions.com and blog, filminginargentina.wordpress.com.
Nice article!
After living here for six years, I don’t at all agree though, that Argentina is less machista than the U.S. Far from it.
Yes, lots of naked girls on TV and at the newstand, but that’s for the pleasure of men.
Women here use their sexual power because they have less of the “real” kind. Lots of T & A and plastic surgery get the attention that brains don’t.
I don’t mind that in fine restaurants I don’t even get a menu when I’m with my man, and that the waiter only speaks to him about what I’m going to eat. But some women might.
Sure can’t imagine that happening in the States!
Hi Cherie, I agree that there is sexism in Argentina. But as an employee I have always been treated with respect, and have never been discriminated because I am a woman. I have also worked as a director, and never had a crew member not treat me well because of my gender. Less than 9% of directors in Hollywood are women, here it is more like 30%, if not more. My husband and producing partner, Gabriel Balanovsky, has a saying, men in Argentina aren´t sexist, but they have sex on the brain. Once you get past the stares and comments, you realize that it is all bark and no bite.
And for the restaurants. . . Gabriel just looks at the waiter and says “she´s ordering, I really know nothing about wine or food” and that normally does it!
Fabulous article Kelsey about Ginger Gentile!
As Ginger presents it I think it is a great opportunity for the USA film industry, whether making commercials or feature films. I have viewed many of her films and felt joy and gained insights into more of Argentina’s culture than I ever experienced on my many visits. I really admire all that she has accomplished and her ability to mix her social consciousness with the art of movie making, to bring new insights and awareness with giggles of optimism to her audience.
As a woman who remembers the 60’s in the US, living in Spain for a year in the 70’s, and traveling in Argentina every year for the past few years, I was aware of more women in the work place (as Ginger states in Argentine film crews which I learned from the article), as I met many Argentine women architects, business consultants, bankers, doctors and lawyers during my stays.
I would say on all my visits to Buenos Aires I observed more obvious Machista than I observe in N.Y., in the every day living and socializing. In BA,when socializing and having dinners with Argentine’s in their apartments, and going to restaurants, I felt that women were dealing with Machista in their personal relations, much more than in the USA. But maybe women in the USA are just expressing it less in public.
Ginger I love your films, keep them coming!
I first started appreciating Ginger Gentile’s work when I was scouting the web for insights into Buenos Aires and Argentina generally. GG’s short films practically transported me in the places I wanted to visit. I really see GG as offering a formidable link between Anglo (mine) and Latino cultures. She seems to be the ideal contact for anyone wishing to bring the two worlds together in film creativity whether commercial, documentary or other.
My own time in Buenos Aires was short but as far as machismo goes I felt the same mentality at work as I am accustomed to finding in southern Mediterranean countries where I have spent many years.
It seems tome though that the points of view of Ginger and Cherie are only apparently in contrast as each is evaluating machismo in relation to different angles of life in Argentina. Ginger is right in pointing out how Argentinians are generally willing to honour talent and intelligence in both men and women. The fact that more than one woman has become head of state in Argentina is an obvious illustration of this point. This is also very Spanish: where else would a woman become the Minister of Defence ? However machismo on a superficial social plane is undeniable. Ginger’s husband telling the waiter to listen to his wife is actually proof of that.
But then, watch out, I am the only man in the conversation so far !
It was great reading Ginger’s interview on Argintine films. I am an New York Filmmaker from India producing docu-dramas and reality TV films in New York City to inform and educate Americans about other countries since 2001. I agree with Ginger that sex is viewed differently from Americans than the rest of the world. Since their college days, younger generation Americans need to get the sexual act done with right away so they sleep and have their first experiences with just anyone … to get over the whole myth of what Hollywood imagined sex is all about.
In India sex is a mixture of sensuality and spirituality that you can still see in Bollywood films … It would be great to have a Argintine Film Festival in the major cities in India … as I have only seen a few and really enjoyed the experience !