Revisiting Misael: Lisandro Alonso Might Bookend Filmmaking Career with “La Libertad” Sequel?

In Argentina, where the situation is already dire, one of the most prominent voices in the country’s national cinema is contemplating retirement. At forty-nine years young, Lisandro Alonso confided to James Benning that he would revisit the protagonist (as well as the filmmaking methods) he employed for his 2001 Un Certain Regard selected debut, La Libertad, and the shocker news according to the The FilmStage folks who got the scoop that this might also be his final film. Of course in the cinema of Alonso, an update on the character might not fall in traditional film sequel norms.

After a retrospective at the Sala Lugones in Buenos Aires (we unfortunately were departing the city that day), Alonso along with his filmography in canisters of film print were shipped off to the Los Angeles retrospective — David Hudson gave a great overview here. A mainstay at the Cannes Film Festival (we had a chance to speak with the filmmaker in Marrakech for the release of Eureka – the Film Movement folks will release the film this year), Alonso’s feature debut was set in Argentina’s province of La Pampa where the film’s protagonist survives with the bare essentials. Will Alonso’s eighth feature film be his last?