“Cinema transforms people’s lives”

By José Nelson Mármol

His world, his passion, is cinema. There's hardly a moment when he doesn't comment on something about cinema: festivals, films, directors, actors, research, historical data, publications, and so on. When he talks about cinema, Guido Convents—a 56-year-old Belgian communicator—vibrates and gets excited. He says that cinema captivated him from a very young age. He remembers that when he was barely three years old, his father took him to the only movie theater in his town, and since then, he hasn't stopped watching movies.

 

"The Longest Day in History," a film that documents a portion of the Second World War, is one of the films that sparked his interest in cinematography that records historical events, and his irrevocable vocation for film research and history.

During his stay in Rome to participate in the Board of Directors Meeting of the World Catholic Association for Social Communication, taking place from November 7 to 12, 2011, Guido discusses some of his work. He is director of communications and coordinator of the Cinema Desk of Signis Worldwide; secretary of the Belgian film press; and president of the African and Arab film festivals, among other responsibilities.

He's wearing a brown three-quarter-length coat and carrying his trusty laptop, on which he archives endless photographs of directors, actors, film posters, and documents. Like Sherlock Holmes—the famed investigator created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887—he says he doesn't want to miss the opportunity to enter the Vatican's secret archives and search for information on the Church's vision of cinema. Early on Monday, November 7, he sets out on that mission. Late that night, he returns with a satisfied expression, claiming to have found important information to include in the new book he's preparing: "Cinema, Values, Catholics, and International Politics," and another on the founding of the International Catholic Film Organization (OCIC) in 1928.

His cinephile streak is reflected in his extensive output. He has written hundreds of articles on film criticism and is the author of nine books, all on film history. His most recent work is a 975-page book on the history of Mozambican cinema, which documents the entire film production of this African country.

He says he can't store all the films he'd like, but he keeps more than 1,200 feature films at home and has a small movie theater, although he always prefers the big screen and sound that can only be enjoyed in large movie theaters.

“For us, cinema is a window to the world,” says Guido, recalling that he almost never paid to go to the movies. From a very young age, he organized events to watch and discuss films in his neighborhood, at his parish, and at school, and thus obtained complimentary tickets. “From then on, I began to reflect on how cinema impacted people's lives, how cinema has transformed people's lives.”

When asked how many films he's seen in his life, Guido doesn't hesitate to admit that it's a difficult question to answer. What he is certain of is that he watches no fewer than 500 films a year, which means he watches more than one a day. And "when I was between 30 and 40, I watched between 1,000 and 2,000 films a year." This explains his expertise in the seventh art.

“As a historian, I really like films that tell stories from history,” says Guido Convents, who says that among these, his preference is for non-Western cinema, especially from Egypt, Africa, or Latin America—Cuba or Argentina.

“Hollywood films are well made, but I don't want to eat just hamburgers; I prefer other foods,” he says metaphorically, adding that ideology cannot be separated from Hollywood productions, and that American cinema is characterized by the exclusion of peoples and cultures other than its own, which contributes to distorting history or segmenting and biasing it. That's why he prefers to watch films that have other narratives, other stories, and reflect other cultures; those films that “present a vision of a more just, supportive society, one that fights to defend human rights and against the dehumanization of society.”

Speaking about Latin American cinema, Guido expresses his satisfaction with the fact that, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the supposed discovery of America, films were released that shattered the belief that had been imposed for hundreds of years, and revealed the truth that had been hidden: "that America was not discovered 500 years ago, but was a continent that existed long before the Spanish arrived."

Guido attends almost ten film festivals a year, in various countries and on several continents, and is tireless in researching everything he can about what he calls "other cinema." He is an open and living encyclopedia of the world of cinema. His life is one that deserves to be brought to the big screen. That's Guido Convents, a character.

In Rome, José Mármol.

Nelson Mármol on From My Corner November 11, 2011