Historia de un letrero de Alonso Alvarez Barreda México

Premiado en el Festival de Cannes 2008

Last week I spoke at, and attended, Linda Naiman’s Transformational Leadership for an Age of Innovation workshop in beautiful Vancouver Canada.

David Fushtey, who is both an excellent sculptor and an attorney, principal for The Governance Council in Canada, gave an incredibly thought provoking presentation on the importance of governance with a conscience. What does this mean and why should we as artists care?

Well, I think last weeks devastating news about the financial meltdown of the United States most prominent and oldest banking institutions, that has not been seen since The Great Depression in 1929, and which will cause the US taxpayers ultimately to incur liability for at least 700 billion dollars, frankly, is enough. And in case that does not speak to you, or you don’t make enough money to care about the generations of taxpayers to follow that will pay for the greed of big business, perhaps understanding, with an election upon us, that it is UP TO US to help change how our leaders govern and what kinds of ethics they bring with them will.

Yes, your heard me correctly– I said UP TO US!

Artists– our moment to use our gifts in a much bigger way is here and blazing brightly before us.

As artists, I believe we have a significant role to play in a world in search of a new identity, a new value system. And the CEO of our new world lies in the hands, at least for the United States, with our soon to be elected new leader. How will he choose to govern our country? How can we shape his decision making process? How can we influence him and others close to him in positions of power?

Each one of us has a historic, trail-blazing, pioneering opportunity to change significantly, and to financially deepen, both the value artists bring and the meaning of creativity and artistry starting right now.

As long as I can remember, art and artists have been thought of by the corporate world of business as being “soft”, aesthetic in nature and, as a result, unreconcilable items that don’t have a place on their profit and loss statements and balance sheets.

Well, I have big news– the world has just witnessed the consequences of a world run by “the numbers”. Every single one of the institutions that have just tumbled to their knees, just like Enron, propped up their financial statements and puffing to make them look like a picture of health. Only this time, we are not talking about just one large corporation but a significant number- from Fannie Mae to five of the top banking institutions falling like dominos all in a row.

While we all know that numbers don’t tell you how emotionally and creatively healthy you are, or a business or any financial institution is, we have NEVER had this kind of amunition to speak our case for why we belong in significant roles inside corporate America. Numbers can be fudged, changed and re-arranged to create the “impression” of financial health and stablity when underneath cancer has spread everywhere.

But Art- cannot. The way people express themselves through drawing, theater, music, the written and spoken word reveals a great deal that cannot be misunderstood, that cannot lie or be easily concealed.

There is an opportunity for every artists now, more than even, to speak the truth about the value of learning to express, communicate and understand each other. The profit and loss statement and balance sheet for corporations needs to evolve into something far more than a bunch of numbers that can tell lies. All our major corporations in the future need to have along with these statements of numbers, ROI statements–I don’t mean Return on Investment statements but instead a RETURN ON IMAGINATION statements. This new kind of ROI can speak the truth about the needs, goals, internal communication, imaginations and creativity of those who work for an organization as well as govern inside of it.

The work of an artist inside corporate America, working with its culture and corporate community, can truly shape this kind of understanding of just what soft skills can do to provide real assurance of the stability and health of an organization.

This short film is an excellent example of the role artist and good governance leader can play in our world. Born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, México. Alonso Álvarez Barreda 24, with this short film “Historia de un Letrero”, Story of a Sign, won an award at Cannes Festival 2008.

Check it out and then let me know where you would like to begin to change the worlds understanding of the role your art can play in big business and for the leaders of our country, as well as any other one that you might live in.

I followed a link to this video clip today and thought it a poignant reminder to be grateful for what we can freely enjoy and to be considerate of those who cannot.

Here’s a rundown:

Okay. Maybe this came abit late.

But for those who never was interested in Short Films such as the one that just went past us – the National Film Board of Canada Online Competition Cannes 2008.

This fourth edition of the competition showcased nine shorts by filmmakers from all over the world, chosen from over 650 films submitted to the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.

Out of the other short-listed films like

About love, hate and the other one by Tobias Bilgeri (Germany),

Balbezit (Ball Possession) by Willemiek Kluijfhout (Netherlands),

Victor Gazon by Patrick Gazé (Canada),

Papiroflexia by Joaquin Baldwin (U.S.A),

Raging Ball by Nicolas Duval (France),

Struck by Taron Lexton (U.S.A),

Lectia de Box (The Boxing Lesson) by Alexandru Mavrodineanu (Romania) and

The Execution of Solomon Harris by Ed Yonaitis (U.S.A).

Historia de un Letrero (The Story of A Sign) by Alonso Alvarez Barreda won the grand prize of a professional HD mini-DV camera and a computer with post-production software, courtesy of the NFB.

It’s about how a sign helped change the life of another.

Watch it if you haven’t.

Muitos já devem ter recebido e-mails sobre essa história de um mendigo cego pedindo esmola, até que chega um executivo e da uma “força” pro mendigo. Em fim, o Mexicano Alonso Álvarez Barreda fez um curta metragem com essa história. Vale a pena assistir.

Fonte: Inovavox

El mexicano Alonso Alvarez Barreda, que ganó hace unos días un concurso de cortometrajes en Internet realizado por la Junta Nacional de Cine de Canadá como parte de la Esquina de Cortometrajes en Cannes, habría plagiado la historia de una producción española hecha dos años antes, señaló el jueves la cadena Televisa.

El noticiario matutino de Televisa presentó un corto español cuya historia coincide con la narrada por Alvarez, sobre un indigente ciego que pide limosna y que sólo comienza a recibirla cuando un hombre se acerca y cambia el mensaje en un letrero a su lado.

La cadena mexicana transmitió “Una limosna, por favor”, del español Francisco Cuenca y presentado en el Notodo Filmfest de España en 2006, que presenta la misma situación de “Historia de un letrero”, la cinta de Alvarez, quien rechazó cualquier plagio bajo el argumento de que nunca aseguró que hubiese sido una idea original.

“Historia de un letrero” se impuso la semana pasada sobre 10 filmes preseleccionados de entre 650 aspirantes de 40 países en el certamen en línea auspiciado por la Esquina de Cortometrajes, un evento paralelo al Festival de Cine de Cannes.

“En ningún momento he dicho que yo soy el creador de esta historia, yo nunca dije que yo la escribí”, dijo Alvarez a Televisa.

Refirió que “recibió” la historia por una llamada telefónica y decidió adaptarla como un corto. Aseguró que no sabía del cortometraje español.

Alvarez dijo que no piensa renunciar al premio obtenido en Cannes.

El conductor del noticiario de Televisa explicó que recibieron un correo electrónico en el que les aseguraba que el corto del mexicano era un plagio, por lo que empezaron a investigar.

En la película española, de escasos 30 segundos, se observa a un indigente ciego que a su lado tiene un cartón con el mensaje “Soy ciego, una limosna por favor”. Un hombre pasa frente a él y tras detenerse toma el letrero y lo reescribe; casi de inmediato transeúntes comienzan a darle dinero tras ver el nuevo mensaje: “Hace un día precioso, pero yo no puedo verlo”.

El corto mexicano relata la misma historia sólo que en 5:59 minutos y con algunas variaciones como en los letreros del indigente: La frase inicial con la que espera infructuosamente que le den dinero es “Ten compasión, estoy siego” (con s), y el que reescribe un hombre que pasa junto a él dice: “Hoy es un hermoso día y no puedo verlo…”.

Alvarez consideró que “está bastante similar (el corto español), pero nuestra historia va por otro lado: yo muestro los paisajes, lo bonito del día; en el otro se ve un día gris”.

Añadió que “así como hay similitudes, hay muchas diferencias y si a esas vamos, ya cuando la gente quiere comparar, pues cuántas películas de ‘Hamlet’ ha habido, cuántas películas de ‘La pasión de Cristo’”.

Ambos cortometrajes pueden verse a continuacion:

Fuente: Yahoo

Esta semana me voy a ir más hacia lo bonito que no lo chistoso. Al fin y al cabo, a uno se le anima el día de la misma forma.

De la competición online NFB de Cannes 2008, el ganador Alonso Álvarez Barreda con su corto “Historia de un letrero“.

Disfrutad del día, vosotros que sí podeis verlo.

Se llama Alonso Álvarez Barreda, es mexicano de Tampico, no es conocido en el ámbito cinematográfico, pero su cortometraje Historia de un letrero ganó esta semana el premio Special Cannes 2008 otorgado en el marco del Short Film Corner. Seis minutos que a mí, en lo personal, me conmovieron.