Today I’m traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil to participate in a conference. A group of famous scholars who have studied the classical literary texts written during the Spanish “Golden Age” (broadly between 1580 and 1680) will spend two days with young scholars from all over the world (like me) to do presentations, share ideas, and give feedback to each other. My university is paying for the plane ticket, and the organizers are paying for my stay and food. How was I going to say no, right?
In general terms, my 20-min presentation is about an unfinished film by Orson Welles: over the course of 30 years, he tried to make his personal adaptation of Don Quijote but was never able to conclude it. The currently available version wasn’t edited by Welles but rather by a multifaceted and eccentric Spanish director, Jess Franco. The final version is quite disappointing and many outrageous criticisms have been written against it. The thing is, people have always considered Orson Welles as Don Quijote‘s author compared to Franco who sometimes does not even receive any credit as film editor. However, in spite of some terrible decisions, Franco was actually in charge of the final editing, so he should be considered at least as a second author too.
Up to date, I have visited many Peruvian cities on the coast and highlands (I have never been in the jungle), but since this will be the first time that I visit a Latin-American country, I’m quite excited about my trip! The conference takes place on Thursday and Friday, so I’ll have some free time to take pictures on Wednesday and Saturday. I’ll keep you posted!
Ok, travel mode is on! Sao Paulo, here I come!…
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