Apparently, every other film draws bouts of laughter from Liffe audiences, including Little White Lie (La mentirita blanca), a Chilean feature by first-time director Tomás Alzamora. Directors like Alzamora take comedy seriously, treating their material in a way to make it fresh and relevant instead of trivial. Tomás Alzamora joined us after last night’s screening in the Kinodvor Cinema for a Q&A hosted by Toni Cahunek.

The film is relevant because it shows the ubiquity of fake news, the disinformation and hoaxes spreading also via traditional print. The film was partially financed through crowdfunding, and thus the closing credits lists a vast number of names. One could thus say that the movie was produced democratically. With reference to reception, the director further explained that Little White Lie was his graduation film at the UNIACC University, and that real-life (local) magnates recognised themselves in the character of the tycoon. It is highly likely that these barons did not much appreciate Little White Lie, given that their unethical conduct is exposed by the local people in the movie. The main character is a real-life person – the local audiences recognised him and responded with peals of laughter. The director finds the issue of fabricated news reports critical as his fellow citizens, who do not surf the net (where the content includes more biased and inaccurate news), rely on the local media and have total confidence in the veracity of the news.

Nataša Šušteršič

Photo Iztok Dimc