Jorge Ruffinelli may know more about Latin American film than, well, anyone. About a decade ago, the professor of Spanish turned his focus to movies, and he estimates he has watched more than 4,000. He now has a spot alongside Clint Eastwood and Danny Glover on the advisory board of the San Francisco Film Society, which presents the area’s international film festival. Ruffinelli also is writing the first encyclopedia of Latin American cinema. Volume one is set to be published in Spanish next year.
Stanford: How did you become interested in Latin American film?
It’s not difficult to explain because I believe that almost everybody likes film. I was a filmgoer as a child, but I never thought about studying film. I was born in Uruguay. Then, in 1974, I went to work at the University of Veracruz in Mexico. Over there, I had the opportunity to be present at the filming of a film by a Chilean director. I spent almost a month with the crew, writing a book. That movie was based on Nobel prize-winning writer Gabriel García Márquez. It was fun to be there and just to be witnessing everything, interviewing every actor and making new friends with everybody.
At the same time, I had a long experience with writers, Latin American writers. I was used to being with them. But then I got tired because I had read all the books. [Laughs.] I wanted not to do a change of career, but to enrich myself intellectually and aesthetically.
What is the difference between Latin American films and American films?
The main problem here is that films or movies are perceived as only enter-tainment, not as a form of art. In Latin America, most of the films are not economically, financially feasible. They are made because people love movies. There is a different rhythm—movies are slower. They try to make you think. Now lately, there are some very funny movies, some very entertaining movies. When Latin American films don’t care about entertainment value, I believe that is a defect. They need to entertain and at the same time keep a high degree of aesthetics and focus on ethical issues.
How many films do you own?
Right now I have 8,000, almost 9,000 Latin American films. I would say that I have seen half of them. I’ve written on 2,500. Ten, 11 years ago I decided to pay more attention to what I was watching. I decided to watch one film a day and write at least a three-page essay on every one—so at this moment I have written something like 7,000 pages about Latin American films.
Do you have a favorite?
No. [Laughs.] After watching 2,500, you have many favorites.
