Luis Carlos and Alfredo Hueck worked together on producing, directing and writing Back to Life, Venezuela’s candidate for the International Oscar.
The Hueck brothers have a genetic link, and this bond became even closer when Luis Carlos fell ill with leukemia when he was 19 years old and Alfredo, his brother who is three years younger, was his bone marrow match and donor. In 1996, these transplants were very new and risky. This film tells the story of a return to health and life.
The Film Verdict: Your film is the story of a fight against a potentially fatal disease. Why did you choose to make it in a comedic tone?
Luis Carlos: We wanted to take the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions where they could laugh and enjoy, not just tell them a drama. We would also like them to see it with the energy and power of the big screen.
TFV: The film is divided into different genres: it starts as a comedy, turns into a drama and at the end it becomes a documentary.
Luis Carlos That’s life! You’re on the beach enjoying yourself with friends and at one point a doctor tells you that you’re going to die soon. Then there’s hope and life goes on. I think that’s one of the strengths of Back to Life, that you can laugh and be moved.
TFV: The film ends as a documentary. Why didn’t you make a full documentary with this story being so close to you and with all the protagonists being alive?
Alfredo: We like filming fiction more.
Luis Carlos: Yes, and there was no way to do it as a documentary because we didn’t have enough photographic material. Our father gave us a camera before the trip for the transplant, and from then on, we filmed and photographed everything we could. But we had no previous images.
TFV: The scenes with the Venezuelan doctor who gives the diagnosis are somewhat cartoonish.
Luis Carlos: It was directed that way; it was way worse in reality. That doctor’s speech in particular was very aggressive. The phrase “I have patients with three, five, twenty siblings and none of them are compatible. Ask God that one of yours will be compatible” was exactly what she said to me.
Alfredo: The actress who plays that role, Eulalia Siso, and who has a theatrical background and a lot of experience, told us we should make the scenes nuanced, but we told her that was how we wanted it, and she complied.
Luis Carlos: But that doctor pointed us in the right direction and put us in contact with the transplant center in the United States, so we are very grateful to her.
TFV: José Ramón Barreto, the actor who plays Ricardo in the film, does a good job but has little physical resemblance to Luis Carlos. How did you come to choose him?
Luis Carlos: We opened auditions to actors around 19 years old without thinking about the resemblance. José Ramón was already known in Venezuela, and we chose him after seeing him act in a scene with the father, which was very dramatic and tearful.
Alfredo: He convinced us immediately, we didn’t hesitate.
TFV: It’s unusual for a couple to see themselves and their children on screen. What do your parents think of the film?
Luis Carlos: They’ve seen several cuts, and they always cry; they can’t help it.
Alfredo: Me too, at least I get a lump in my throat despite how many times I’ve seen it.
TFV: The dream scenes are very good; how did you write them?
Luis Carlos: They are fragments of dreams that I actually had. Others were dreamt by Alfredo
Alfredo: At that time, we even had very similar dreams. We merged them for the scenes.
TFV: Luis Carlos, your first film Papita maní tostón, is the highest grossing film in the history of Venezuela. To what do you attribute its success?
Luis Carlos: It is a romantic story revolving around baseball, the most popular sport in Venezuela, and it also deals with the confrontation between teams which are rivals par excellence: the Leones de Caracas and the Navegantes de Magallanes. That made the public interested, while the publicity was, for the most part, word of mouth. When it was released in 2013, there were demonstrations and riots in Venezuela. The film gave people a chance to laugh and relax, the public needed that.
TFV: You live between the United States and Venezuela, though you have developed your work in Spanish with films and TV series. Do you want to film in English?
Alfredo: And in French and German! We are looking for projects that we like regardless of the language.
Luis Carlos: We would like that very much. The important thing is that we are ready to continue working in film and television, to take advantage of this moment that the Venezuelan Film Academy gave us to represent our country at the Oscars and to continue doing what we like the most.
Back to Life will have “For your consideration” screenings in the presence of the Hueck brothers on December 2 in Miami and on December 5 at the Instituto Cervantes in Los Angeles