“The Other Memory of the World”: The Passage of Time and Its Ghosts | Documentary directed by Mariela Pietragalla

The other memory of the world 7 points

Argentina, 2024

Address: Mariela Pietragalla

Script: Alejandra Portela and Mariela Pietragalla

Duration: 68 minutes

Interpreters: Rafael Corral.

Premiere at Gaumont Cinema, Rivadavia 1635.

This will be a text full of clarifications. The first: ghost stories are not always scary and the one told in The other memory of the world is one of those. The second: the ghosts in movies and stories are not always the souls in pain of dead people, like those that the little boy saw in The sixth senseo. Sometimes they are nothing more than the memories of the living, insistently superimposed on the present. And if we are talking about collective memories, those that have to do with the history and culture of a community, museums, libraries and archives would be the home of many ghosts. This film takes place in one of those haunted mansions: the Argentine Cinematheque Foundation.

Before continuing, a third and necessary clarification is necessary, because the name of this foundation can be misleading. The so-called Argentine Cinematheque is not a state institution and should not be confused with the National Cinematheque, a public body whose creation has been backed by a law that regulates it for years, but which has never been properly implemented, beyond sporadic attempts and bombastic announcements that always fall on deaf ears. On the contrary, it is a private entity that this year celebrates 75 years of existence, which safeguards its heritage with the help of a group of collaborators and volunteers in permanent transformation, and the contributions of different institutions.

But although the building of the Cinemateca Argentina is the only location of this documentary – an imposing art deco structure that can even be considered one of its protagonists – the film does not pretend to tell its story. At least not exhaustively. There is no mention of its founder, the critic Rolando Fustiñana (also the creator of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken), nor of its main promoter, the filmmaker and also critic Guillermo Fernández Jurado. Nor is there any concrete data on the collection that is safeguarded within its walls, a collection of more than 23 thousand titles in different formats. 23 thousand very much alive ghosts.

Instead, The other memory of the world It has another protagonist, Rafael Correa, a man over 90 years old, a former flamenco dancer who was part of Miguel de Molina’s dance troupe.with whom he shared a friendship, until the death of the notable Spanish artist based in Buenos Aires. Correa lived his last years somewhere in that monumental building, becoming a ghost himself, wandering the corridors of that labyrinth of films.The documentary takes advantage of the strange confluence between space and person to address the different ways that memory has to express itself.

On one side is Rafael, recalling the happy years when he still danced, looking for the unfindable can of a film in which he himself appears, during his youth, accompanying De Molina. On the other, the building itself, portrayed during a remodeling that seeks to purify it of the humidity stains and the peeling that leave its brick bones visible to everyone. “Just like people, films do not escape illness: that of nitrate, ignorance, loneliness, neglect,” says at one point a sober voice-over that is prudent enough not to reveal itself too much, perhaps revealing the underlying issue: the passing of time.

The other memory of the world manages to create a romantic atmosphere, at times almost gothic, from a successful black and white photography with expressionist touches, perfect for portraying a building and a character like these. A precise montage and staging work complete a formula that allows you to enjoy this story in which the ghosts, it is worth clarifying, will remain alive forever.