In Dialogue: Fernando Arze Echalar

Three decades after graduating from the Academy, Fernando Arze Echalar (1996) has built an international career spanning genre and medium. His attention to detail is matched only by his candor; traits that have carried the multi-hyphenate through project after project. Below, we explore his recent career goings-on, mull over the importance of curiosity, and look at what's to come.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You have a recent feature film, Cielo that made the rounds. Tell me about this.

Cielo is a British-Bolivian production, and it opened on the festival circuit last February. The premiere was in Porto, and we won a few awards there. Best Cinematography was one of them. This year, I was lucky enough to win Best Actor at festivals in Argentina. We also won Best Picture at some festivals. Then the movie screened at a festival in Sonoma earlier this year.

Cielo premiered in New York at the Quad Cinema in June, and for me, that was special. It had been 30 years, almost to the day, since I graduated in 1996. I showed a movie at a cinema I used to go to when I was a student at the Academy.

What drew you to the story?

When I was first sent the sides, the casting director asked if it would be okay to share my number with the director. A few minutes later, he wrote to me: “Hi Fernando, I'm Alberto Sciamma, the director of the movie you're auditioning for. Here is the script.”

And I thought, the script? He sent the whole script. It was a bit unusual, but it was the first sign that he really trusted the people he wanted to work with. When I read it, the first three pages were just incredible. I couldn't believe what I was reading. And when my character walks into the story, he changes everything.

And at that point I just thought, I need to be part of this movie.

You’ve worked a lot in writing and directing. Were you always looking at those, too?

It wasn’t something that I planned. I was part of Company in ‘97, and part of the Metropolitan Playhouse of New York with some of our teachers at the time. I was a real theater rat.

When a friend of mine asked me to act in one of her short films, I said, “No, I don't like movies. I'm just a theater actor.” Very snobbish—it was very snobbish of me. But she insisted, and I finally did it for her. I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the whole process, even though it was just a short film. I've been doing movies ever since.

About ten years after graduating from the Academy, I was in Brazil assisting on a theater production. A few actors asked me to direct them in a play, and that's how I started directing for the stage. I began writing and directing films around 2010, starting with shorts.

Has working across different cultures and regional industries shaped your perspective?

I think we're more similar than we realize. We have the same issues; our histories may be a little different, but we come from the same place. Someone in Brazil might be dealing with many of the same issues, just in a slightly different way. I think that's where the interesting work comes in. You have to try to understand how a Brazilian person might think. But then again, what is a Brazilian, anyway? If you're just going for a stereotypical Brazilian, then this is probably not the work you should be doing.

A moment from your career that lives in your head rent free?

There’s two that come to mind. Can I say two?

[Laughs] Sure.

There's a film called Los de Abajo we made in 2019. We shot it in the south of Bolivia, and that experience really allowed me to get to know that part of the country. I played a campesino, a farmer—someone completely different from me. I was born in a city and raised in cities, so this was far removed from my own reality.

The character was based on a real person. I met him in May or June, which is winter here, and he was barefoot. His feet and hands were enormous; calloused from a lifetime of working the land. I remember really taking note of that. I spent a week with him to understand the way his body moved and functioned; how it was able to survive such drastic weather. I realized that what I wanted for my career was to disappear into characters. I want to dedicate myself so I can better understand different people and the worlds they come from.

The second moment happened just a few months ago. I went to Rome to shoot a film and was there for about five weeks. There was a scene by the Mediterranean, and I was standing there looking out at the sea when my entire career flashed before me. I couldn't believe I was there. I couldn't believe that the kid who studied at the Academy 30 years ago was now in Rome, looking at the Mediterranean, shooting a movie and getting paid to do it.

What’s stuck with you from your Academy training?

So many things. I come back to the discipline and the respect for the work, the respect for the character, and respect for the other artists. Being vulnerable, being audacious, just going into it all in and seeing what happens. And also having a good rapport with the director. The relationship with the director is so important.

At the same time, you have to let yourself play. Never forget that word. Play, play, play. But there’s also a huge responsibility for an actor.

Advice or thoughts for recent grads and younger talent starting their careers?

The first thing that comes to mind is don’t lock yourself into thinking you need to work in one place. I hadn’t been back to the United States until this year. I went back after 22 years, but that allowed me to work in other places—in Brazil, where I lived as a teenager, and in Bolivia. Latin America was open for me.

The U.S. is an amazing place to work, but it’s not the only place. Try to find where you really belong. I think that’s very important. If you want to do this for 30 or 40 years, you want to live somewhere you can sustain joy over that time.

And along with that: learn another language.