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 Director David Burman (L) on the set of "Family Law" ("Derecho De Familia")  Burman receiving accolades for his directing skills  The cast of "Family Law" at the premiere  Julieta Díaz, David Burman, and Adriana Aizenberg  Daniel Burman at the premiere
In "Family Law" (Argentina's Oscar submission as "Derecho De Familia"), Hendler plays another Ariel, surname Perelman this time, who comprehends the ways in which he's similar, but also very different, from his dad who is also a lawyer. This Ariel grapples with both being a son, and a father--something his much-suffering wife has to deal with. Sort of an antidote to "Borat," this light comedy is pervaded by sincerity and sensitivity--but with only light Jewish undertones.
Q: This film moves you beyond the label of a "hyphenated director;" you're no longer a Jewish-Argentinean director.
DB: I consider myself a producer, scriptwriter and director of my work but it doesn't mean I want to do this all my life. In Europe, they're always asking me if I'm afraid of getting taken over by Hollywood. I have these European [filmmaker] fantasies—I dream about filming on some rainy day when a helicopter suddenly falls out of the sky and someone else is paying for it. Then I go and [take] my siesta.
Q: American production money used to flow to European talent; now it seems to be flowing to directors from South America and Mexico.
DB: That's true, it's a reason to be upset [for European filmmakers].
Q: Do you see "Family Law" and your previous film, "Lost Embrace," as part of the same thematic prism?
DB: I feel that each film is its own individual work, but "Family Law," together with my second film and the first of three, "Waiting for the Messiah," form a trilogy that's all about the search for paternity in an ideal world.
Q: Do these three films deal more with the relationship between fathers and sons or with your Jewish experience?
DB: The nature of being Jewish as a theme has come up before. I think the nature of being Jewish doesn't really need a film in itself. The fact that there was a Jewish burial in ["Family Law"] shouldn't lead anyone to think I was trying to make a film about being Jewish. It just happened to come up because I couldn't think of any other way to bury a person.
Q: The previous film [2004's "Lost Embrace"] was a lot more about the Argentinean-Jewish experience—and yours in particular. This film was more about the assimilated Jewish experience in Argentina.
DB: A woman asked me yesterday, "Why is it that the only moment we realize [Arturo Goetz's] character is Jewish is when he's buried?" I thought that her question was a perfect example of the point of view of the average Jewish-American—at least of the Jewish-Americans that I know, which are about 10.
In Argentina, it's not something we are reaffirming every minute. [My religious affiliation] is very intimate to me and I enjoy it very much, but I don't feel the need to demonstrate it constantly. For example, I'm heterosexual but I'm not always demonstrating or showing that aspect of myself when I order food or when I take a bath. "Please bring me a heterosexual cappuccino." [Laughs.]
Q: Nobody persecuted you for being heterosexual. They're more likely to have persecuted you for other reasons. Maybe people are more sensitive about heterosexuality than Jewishness in Argentina?
DB: I think there were some concrete [anti-Semitic] situations in Argentina—the attacks [on synagogues], for example. But from what I understand about the U.S., until recently, there were specific quotas for Jews in universities. For instance, there would be so many engineering students...
Q: Before the war, or maybe in the '50s?
DB: Yeah, the '50s. That never happened in Argentina.
Q: "Lost Embrace" was clearly Argentinean; it was about the expatriate experience there; what are the Argentinean aspects of "Family Law?"
DB: Since I'm from Argentina, it's hard for me to see those aspects. Everything about the film is Argentinean in my eyes—the places they go, the sandwiches they eat, the decadence of the buildings, all of it.
This is the fifth film I've made, and it's the most universal of them all. In all the countries where it's been screened, people laugh in the same places and they show emotion at the same points. It's almost miraculous.
Q: Except for the maté [a uniquely Argentinean tea-like drink that tastes like fermented straw]. That's very Argentinean. You always have to have one scene with maté in an Argentinean film.
DB: I hate maté.
Q: I do too. What's the deal with maté anyway?
DB: It's a barbaric tradition.
Q: I don't know what kind of films were made during the dictatorship [of General Galtieri, who ruled Argentina in the 80s and spearheaded the "Dirty War" that killed and tortured thousands of suspected leftists]—if any were made at all—but do you think this post-dictatorship cinema has played a role in helping to bring people past that time?
DB: I think the generation that immediately followed the dictatorship felt a certain responsibility to keep that story alive. The generation that followed was liberated from that burden to some extent. They could say, "No, it's not just about that. We can also have fun." The two things—remembrance and enjoyment—could co-exist.
Q: Do you think that Argentinean cinema is going through further changes as a result of that distance?
DB: Yes, I think with time, we have been able to do that. We're in a new era now. We've got a new opportunity to construct our culture.
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