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Documentary UN AFORTUNADO TESTIGO (EL DETRÁS DE CÁMARAS DE AMORES PERROS) Presented at the 24th FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

The documentary Un afortunado testigo (el detrás de cámaras de Amores Perros) was screened at the 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), with director Fernando Llanos in attendance.

In 1999, while filming Love's a Bitch (2000)—the film that launched Alejandro González Iñárritu’s career—Llanos created nearly 500 drawings to serve as a storyboard for the film. He also shot 47 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, which he later edited into a documentary.

“It fell to me to sketch out the film in front of two people who already had six Oscars between them (Alejandro González Iñárritu and Rodrigo Prieto). Iñárritu would ask me, ‘How are you going to make the behind-the-scenes feature? How many have you done?’ I didn’t know what to say because I hadn’t done any—it was the first film I’d worked on—and Rodrigo Prieto stepped in and said, ‘Come on, it’s like if the producers asked you how many films you’ve made, you haven’t made any. Give him a chance, he’ll do a good job,’” Llanos recalled, thanking cinematographer Prieto for supporting his work.

The filmmaker explained that the documentary had been shelved for 27 years and shouldn’t be seen as a promotional piece for the film, but rather as a way to relive the Love's a Bitch experience, as a “very fortunate” witness.

Fernando Llanos

“In movies, nothing is impossible. If the director says something, there’s a crew that carries out the order,” he said before sharing that one night, to shoot a scene, 11 people had to move a car because it was blocking the shot.

Fernando Llanos also presented the book Desatar Amores Perros, which compiles more than 77 testimonies from those who participated in the film’s production.

“There is no other published book on world cinema that brings together interviews with so many people from a single crew. Cinema is a collective creation, and many people forget that,” he said.