Venezuelans are united by unique things. As a people who’ve faced complex struggles over the past 20-plus years, we’ve learned how to cope with relocations and diaspora, and years of opportunities and life experiences muddled by political instability. But life goes on, and so does art. One of the major proponents of Venezuelan cinema is Alberto Arvelo, a filmmaker behind some of the largest Venezuelan productions in memory, collaborating with talent like Edgar Ramirez and Gustavo Dudamel throughout his storied career. His most recent film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival.
Maria Valverde and Bruna Cusi at this year’s Tribeca Festival
“All We Cannot See” stars Maria Valverde and Bruna Cusi as two women who, after a chance meeting in a public bathroom, develop a strong and undeniable bond. The women embark on a road trip together exploring complex issues like gender based violence, queer love, childhood trauma, and more, all set to a stunning European backdrop and Dudamel’s gorgeous music.
“We dreamed of this project at the start of the pandemic. We read in an article that one of the most terrible things about the pandemic was the rise of gender violence that was taking place behind closed doors.”
Intimacy is a word that comes up regularly in my conversation with Arvelo. Having worked on tremendous productions like “The Liberator,” filled with depictions of military campaigns, battles, and a keen attention to period detail, “All We Cannot See” gives Arvelo the chance to narrow his scope. It’s a story about two characters getting to know each other as they explore a societal problem that’s impossible to reduce to words.
We met at Spring Studios in New York, hours before the film’s premiere. Though our conversation was brief, it was plentiful, featuring a quick cameo from Dudamel and the film’s stars as they geared up for the press day that lay ahead. Arvelo spoke warmly throughout our chat, excited to have found a fellow Venezuelan movie lover who was just as thrilled to be part of another chapter at Tribeca.
Maria Valverde and Bruna Cusi star in ‘All We Cannot See’
How do you feel about presenting this film at the Tribeca Festival? I know the premiere is tonight
Premiering a movie is always a special moment. It’s the end of a journey. So, exciting on the one hand, but I also feel a sense of relief. Every movie is a miracle, and for a movie to come together is very unusual. Especially in these times. So it’s a mixture of feelings of having completed the film, having it exist, and the fact that now there’s a new thing in the world called “All We Cannot See.” I’m very moved.
You’ve previously collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel and with Maria Valverde. How was the experience this time around? I think it’s been your most intimate, because the movie is made up of two characters, basically
It’s exactly that for me. It’s one of the most beautiful experiences that I’ve had in my career, and it’s all because of the intimacy we created. It’s about the possibility of making cinema in the way that we always dreamed of making it: A very small team with talented and special people, where there’s room for creative freedom and the space to play, in the good sense of the word, and to have fun and improvise, and make mistakes, and repeat things so we get something new out of it. It’s been beautiful. Collaborating with the actresses, the editor, and the production itself, breaking the barriers of what’s above and below the line. It all results in one thing, which is more organic and modern. And with Gustavo, it’s a collaboration that we’ve had in so many different ways.
This is our second movie. Third, really, because we previously worked together on “Free Color,” the documentary we made about our beloved Carlos Cruz-Diez. And we’ve also worked in the opera together and done those sorts of collaborations.
I think this is some of Gustavo’s most beautiful pieces of music that he’s composed in his life, because of that intimacy. His work in this film is very propositional. It’s really an octet of chords with a piano and a harp, and the colors that Gustavo draws out have left me so impressed. Gustavo managed to understand that intimacy and that voice that the film has. If I’m honest, for a movie that’s called “All We Cannot See,” everything that we hear is extremely important.
“I think this is some of Gustavo’s most beautiful pieces of music that he’s composed in his life.”
Maria Valverde, Gustavo Dudamel, Alberto Arvelo, and Bruna Cusi
Speaking of the name of the film… It’s a movie about domestic violence that, while it doesn’t leave any room for misunderstandings, doesn’t show the violence onscreen. It kind of lives in your head. Can you tell me about that decision?
That was very important. We dreamed of this project at the start of the pandemic. We read an article that said one of the most terrible things about the pandemic was the rise of gender-based violence that was taking place behind closed doors. Everything that was happening that we couldn’t see. That inspired us a lot.
We didn’t want to make a tribute to rising levels of graphic violence. We didn’t want to perpetuate a message of aggressive physical violence. We wanted to file a complaint, but not to show it. We also didn’t have more room for darkness amid a pandemic. What we wanted to make was a love poem to the universal need of love, and for humanity. “All we need is love,” you know that could be a good name for a song.
(laughs). Was it always planned as a romance between the two women?
Yes. That was proposed by Gabriela and Maria. This project came out of this meeting of Gustavo, Maria, Gabriela (Camejo, one of the film’s producers), and me, gathered on one pandemic night. And they proposed this story between these two women. And I found it very powerful and moving, for two women to get together because they find in each other a space of safety, where they’re not afraid. A space where they’re protected and where they can be themselves.
The two characters come from problems. One, from an intense situation of domestic violence. The other is coming out of a violent breakup. So they create this bubble, this feminine space of connection and freedom, and we found that incredibly powerful. And that’s something that I hadn’t seen before. A love story between two women who’ve been harmed and who find in each other and in their femininity a space of freedom.
The cast and crew of ‘All We Cannot See’ on the film’s premiereThe cast discuss the film at its Tribeca premiere
© Tribeca Festival
© Tribeca Festival
© Getty Images
