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SLIFF 2015 Interview: Juan Manuel – Subject of TRUE SMILE – We Are Movie Geeks

Interview

SLIFF 2015 Interview: Juan Manuel – Subject of TRUE SMILE

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TRUE SMILE screens Wednesday at 5:00pm at The Tivoli Theater as part of The St. Louis International Film Festival. The subjects of the film, Juan Manuel and Sergio Aznárez Rosado, will be in attendance. This event is FREE

TRUE SMILE is the story of an astonishing journey seen through the empty eyes of 26-year-old Sergio Aznárez Rosado, who was born both blind and autistic but still lives a full, happy life packed with wonderful adventures. One of those adventures is a 1,300-kilometer journey by tandem bike with his brother, Juan Manuel, who pilots the bicycle. Over 30 days, the two brothers traverse desert and high mountains, starting in Cuenca in central Spain and finishing in one of the most remote villages in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Along the way, they stop to meet Sergio’s friend Mati. A key character in his life, Mati was the first person outside of his family who understood Sergio, helping him to perceive the world through her eyes. She thus became one of the privileged people allowed into Sergio’s inner circle and autism-defined inner world. Mati is more than a friend or a mentor for Sergio: Their relationship has taught him to understand life.

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Juan Manuel took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about TRUE SMILE before it’s screening at The St. Louis International Film Festival

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 9th

We Are Movie Geeks: Welcome to St. Louis.

Juan Manuel: Thank you. I’ve been traveling with my brother to several of these film festivals. For him it has been so interesting to travel and to be part of these events.

WAMG: Is Sergio younger or older than you?

JM: He is one year younger than me. We live in Spain and my brother now lives with our mom and spends weekends and holidays with our dad. I live, depending on my job, sometimes in Barcelona, sometimes in Madrid. I work in television.

WAMG: What is your relationship with your brother Sergio like?

JM: We have a very close relationship. My brother was diagnosed with autism very late, not until he was seven years old. It was more difficult to diagnose because he was blind as well.  My parents always made me understand that he was different but he could still do many things. I’m so glad that they taught me this because since we were very young, I can understand his autism. He has barriers, but we all have barriers. Sergio can do anything he wants, or at least he can try. We like to let him try everything.

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WAMG: Whose idea was it to take this 1300 km trip that this film is based on? 

JM: My parents are journalists and were all in the communications industry and we all wanted to show what a gift it was having Sergio in our lives. We’ve learned so much about life through him. I think we are really gifted by him, not the other way around, and I think it was very important to share that. And this project had him as the central part of the story. Just talking about him wasn’t enough, we wanted to show him doing something and taking part in something that he enjoys. The timing was good. A few years ago he was getting angry about changes and doing things different with his every day activities. Now that he’s understanding life more and becoming more confident and enjoying life, we thought this was a good time to film this documentary.

WAMG: Have you taken a lot of these long bike rides before? Is this a hobby? 

JM: Not at all. It was funny because we did like to ride in tandem before but we always had this really old and heavy bike that you could barely take up a hill. When we started the film, Cannondale Bicycle Corporation was a sponsor and provided us with a new tandem bike. The bike didn’t arrive until one month before we started this trip so we didn’t have much time to test it and to ride, so we had some physical issues on the trip. We sort of trained just by going on the trip. My brother is more fit than I am. He goes to the gym and play lots of sports, but we were not used to this amount of commitment.

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WAMG: Was there any point on the trip where you thought you might not make your goal?

JM: Yes. There was one point where we had to go to the hospital. With autism, Sergio doesn’t communicate well when he has pain or injuries. You have to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s all right. Near the beginning of the trip he was having problems and we didn’t know until we took him to the hospital that it was nothing serious. The film crew would not have carried on if he wasn’t OK.

WAMG: How long did it take you and your brother to travel 1300 km? 

JM: About one month. We would cycle for five days and then rest for a couple. We tried to aim for an average of 78 km per day. It wasn’t like a sport or a contest, we didn’t want our effort to be excessive physically. The point of all this was just traveling, and my brother can feel the distance on his bike. When he flies in an airplane, he takes off at one airport and arrives at another, but really has no concept of how far he has traveled. Going biking was a way of being in contact with the reality of the trip. So it’s not really about how tough the trip was, it wasn’t like a marathon. It’s a normal trip for someone who has the passion to take it.

WAMG: Did you run into any bad weather on your trip?

JM: Yes we rode in some rainy days and we ran into a bit of snow. When we were in Africa we would get up very early in the morning and just ride until midday. After that it was impossible because it was too hot to ride.

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WAMG: What does the film’s title TRUE SMILE refer to?

JM: The title refers to my brother smile because he is authentic all of the time. When he’s OK, he smiles a lot. When he’s tired or bored, it’s the same.  We who don’t have autism smile because socially it’s the polite thing to do. My brother doesn’t understand these things, so when he smiles, it’s a true smile.

WAMG: Were you involved in the post-production of the film?

JM: The director of the film had the final say but myself and my family wanted to look at the story. There is an ethical issue in the sense that we make decisions for Sergio and we have to be very careful about what kind of image there is of him. He can’t speak for himself but the director, who did not know us, did an amazing job. When we saw the first cut of the film, we decided there weren’t many changes to make. We were all on the same page.

WAMG: What was it like seeing the film for the first time?

JM: My mother and father sat down with Sergio and I and watched it for the first time and we thought it was beautiful. We do more or less how it was going to turn out, this road trip with an interview of my mother and father and of this friend of Sergio that we are going to visit, so the structure was always clear. We knew some of the biggest scenes are when he is speaking to himself, and when we saw the final film with all of the music added and saw my brother enjoying himself so much, to me that was the best part. The film is an amazing memory of our trip.

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WAMG: Do you enjoy traveling to these film festivals with your brother?

JM: Yes. I enjoy always being with my brother and any kind of travel with him. When I travel with him, I’m traveling with his feelings also. Traveling with him is a different way of understanding the world. He’s very easy-going, even if you have to take care of him. He’s always looking at the positive side of things and lives in the present.

WAMG: How has the film been received so far?

JM: Good. When we started this project we just wanted it to go the way it goes, and not force anything. We didn’t want to do anything commercial, and I think this film is not what people are going to expect it to be. It’s authentic and people are enjoying it. It’s a true story, and when some of my friends watch the film, they understand my brother better. Even if it doesn’t receive many awards, it’s touching the people who want to get this kind of message. When people with disabilities and other problems watch this film, they want to enjoy life more and to us this is the most important thing.

WAMG: That must make you feel good. It sounds like the best kind of documentary. Good luck with your screening at the St. Louis international Film Festival and I hope you enjoy your time here.

JM: Thank you

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