Alberto Estrada
Mexican videomaker
biography
Interview: 10 questions
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background
I have studies in Social Anthropology wich i think that’s something wich lead me in some way to watch, make reflections and try to understand the human as a social being then I studied film and tv production that’s when i found the perfect medium to make, wich i believe, it’s a critic of my reality.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
I start filming when i was in a videoart workshop in 2009, i was very skeptical with video and i wanted to try with a medium wich i was more acquainted like film, however i found in video certain propertiers wich were more associated with the common and ordinary life that helped me to create a different intention with the work.
3. What kind of subjects have your films?
Human, in all his forms and how reacts to their surroundings. I’m terrified of him and their actions, so video it’s kind of an exorcism but also a way to be in peace with him.
4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
To me filming, it’s something organic, the camera it’s an extension of my body so i follow it and he tells me what to film, although i have particular aesthetic preferences one of them i’ts color as a psychological meaning.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
I started with a 8mm camera but then i changed with a handycam and vhs camcorders, this gave me the opportunity to make a bound with the identity of the people outside the video and take it to a common territory as if they were filmed in a vacation trip.
6. The field of “art and moving images†(one may call it videoart or also differently) is is manifesting itself as an important position in contemporary art. Tell me more about your personal position and how you see the future of this field ( your personal future and the future of “art and moving imagesâ€)
I think art it’s always in constant movement by its tools, by its subjects and by its time. I believe that as long as we still think in discourse putting limits so the medium does not impress and blind us, it will be great to grow with technology and find different possitions in art.
7. How do you finance your films?
With my own money.
8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team?
I prefer working individually, as i said to me filming it’s an organic process so it’s very difficult knowing how the other’s body will react to specific actions, however i think it’s interesting how two different views can commune in certain point.
if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
I think in terms of art so there are many influences for me in poetry, film, photography, painting, some of them are: Oliverio Girondo, Kenneth Anger, David Lynch, Frans Zwartjes, Nan Goldin, Juan Rulfo, Hans Bellmer and the list goes on.
10. What are your plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
Keep making videos and find spaces where they can be shown.