In the inaugural talk of the XIII APCP Advertising Commercial Film Production and Postproduction Workshop, Karla Sofía Gascón and Carlos Montiel reflected on the power of building from real life, the importance of showing other realities on screen, and the role of advertising as a space to expand freedom and truth.
This first conversation of the 13th Production and Post-Production Commercial Film Workshop, guided by the voice-over of our hostess, welcomed the guest of honour, actress, writer and activist Karla Sofía Gascón, who starred in the opening talk alongside Carlos Montiel, executive producer of FIGHT. In her speech, Karla Sofía Gascón reflected on how, after arriving directly from India with her award for Emilia Pérez, she experienced one of the shoots ‘most similar to an advertising campaign’ due to its structure, emotional curve and unpredictable evolution.
Gascón acknowledged that during filming there were many moments when even she did not know where the film was going, until the editing made it ‘truly wonderful’. She argued that the number of awards did not come about by chance, but because the film connects on a very deep level: ‘it touches the heart’ —and here, she pointed out, music plays a decisive role.
Throughout the talk, the actress also stated that her characters ‘coexist with light and darkness’; and explained that she builds this duality from her own experience: ‘the greatest school for an actor is life’.
Karla also addressed a key issue: authenticity. She confessed that for years she had moulded herself into what she believed others expected of her. However, it was only when she decided to ‘stop living for the gallery (within the limits of respect)’ that she was able to become the best version of herself, both personally and professionally.
For his part, Montiel pointed out the importance of multiplying perspectives to broaden references and generate real identification on screen. Karla took up that challenge and went further: being a role model, she said, ‘is relative’ and is not a position that can be granted or self-proclaimed. ‘If my existence helps someone to be freer or happier, I am already satisfied.’
The interview with our guest of honour left us feeling inspired and served as a powerful reminder that underpinned the rest of the day: when society allows itself freedom, that freedom is reflected on screen — including in advertising.
In advertising, she added, there will always be someone who disagrees with what is shown on screen, but that is also where the opportunity lies: ‘daring to show other realities, people who achieve things despite all possible calamities, and who fight to make a better world; that can also make a product more likely to be bought’.
The actress also stars in CANADA’s campaign for ICEX, La causa del accidente que provocó el incendio (The cause of the accident that caused the fire), which she says elevated the campaign to excellence.
The talk ended with an almost philosophical reading of the current context: ‘We live in a lie that is very difficult to verify,’ she said, pointing to social media as an ecosystem where everything can be bought: likes, comments, perceptions. And yet, in that landscape, she confessed, she still holds out hope: ‘When you do things because you like them, there will always be someone who feels connected.’
With that last sentence, the first major conceptual framework of these 13th Festival was laid out: the profession we share is also a way of seeking truth. On screen, in stories and in the way we choose to represent ourselves.
