by Dov Kornits
“The Searching for Sugarman parallel that Miguelito holds was never really my intention,” says Australian filmmaker Sam Zubrycki when asked whether the 2012 Oscar winner sparked the idea for his own search for a forgotten musical icon.
“At first I was really interested in the world and the musicians that surrounded Miguelito and initially my main references were Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club and My Architect by Nathaniel Khan. The myth and the reveal that develops in the film was something that really just happened as we were shooting. I was really adamant that this was not only going to be a mystery-like documentary but that it was going to be a story of this culture, the people who worked on the album and those who knew and loved Miguelito.”
Miguelito was a cherubic 11-year-old Puerto Rican boy who sang on one Salsa record, Canto a Borinquen, released in the early ‘70s. When Zubrycki discovered it seven years ago, it took him on a journey from Cali in Colombia to Puerto Rico and New York, where he met Harvey Averne, founder of CoCo Records, credited for bringing the ‘New York Sound’ salsa music to America.
The resulting film is a heartfelt ode to music and culture, while also a cautionary tale about the music business and the significance of family.
We emailed some questions to Zubrycki, who makes his feature debut with this highly accomplished self-funded documentary.
I know that you touch on it slightly in the documentary, but can you tell us about the origins of the film?
I was travelling through Colombia in 2013 with a good friend of mine who is a musician, Danny G Felix. We had heard about the mystical city of Cali and its claim to being the ‘Salsa Capital of the World’ and it was where I discovered Miguelito’s record. Danny had written a salsa song back in Sydney that a lot of the salsa collectors, known as ‘Melomanos’, were really interested in and so we were hanging out with these guys. It was there where I first saw and heard Miguelito’s album and as I mention in the film it just struck me as being so different to any other salsa record I had seen or heard. The Cali collectors told me the story of Miguelito, that he was an eleven year old Puerto Rican kid who was discovered by the legendary New York record producer Harvey Averne, recorded the album Canto a Borinquen, played Madison Square Garden with Eddie Palmieri and then not long after was tragically run over.
I heard him sing the song ‘Payaso’, a song which is about a lonely clown and I just found it really poetic. I thought it would be a great story to tell and it was surrounded by all the things that I loved.
Do you have a particular passion for Salsa?
I love Salsa. It’s like a drug. Like many genres, at first it all sounds the same, but once you get into it and start understanding and hearing the musical and cultural nuances, your love grows. That is how it has been for me anyway. I think a big part of making this film was to learn more about salsa and its culture.
Was it always going to be a feature documentary? I ask because this is your first directing effort.
It was something that just really evolved. I wasn’t really sure how long it was going to be; it was just something that happened, and I felt there was more story to tell.
How much footage did you have to work with, and did you have to do any additional shooting to make it work over the production time?
I travelled three times to New York, Puerto Rico, Cali and pretty much shot on each trip, which were roughly 2 months each. Between that I watched and translated everything which would probably tally up to around 150 hours. This was pretty challenging as I’m not a fluent Spanish speaker and, in each location, dialects were slightly different, however it was really fun immersing myself in the culture of all the records that I loved. We story boarded the film initially from about 50 scenes down to around 25. I was really adamant about finding the middle line between music, culture and the Miguelito narrative.
Your parents are both filmmakers [documentarian Tom Zubrycki and producer Julia Overton), were they integral to you pulling off such an accomplished feature for your first film?
My parents were definitely the ying and the yang of the project. At first Tom was extremely pessimistic about the possibilities of it being achievable and rightly so. Based on the other side of the globe, a central character without archive; the project from his professional perspective seemed expensive and impossible. Whereas Julia was extremely supportive about it being a film and was always thinking of ways to make it achievable. I think the combination of each side urged me on to make it and more importantly, finish it.
Was it inevitable that you would end up being a filmmaker, and what are your memories of filmmaking growing up?
When I was growing up I never wanted to be a filmmaker, I wanted to play trumpet in the Berlin Philharmonic. I was always surrounded by film and remember growing up playing in steenbeck bins or going to locations. I had a strong connection and love of cinema, but my path developed very differently. It was only after I went travelling and studied anthropology that I really started to think about making films and to start learning my craft.
Do you think that your family have been your guiding lights with regards to the ethics of documentary filmmaking, and/or do you believe that there are any ethics with regards to documentary filmmaking?
I think they have definitely played a part. Miguelito is a film about a group of people and a culture that I really love, and I think when I would make ethical decisions during the film, I would always want to see the good in someone and never to point a finger. I think really great observational documentary cinema should always come from a neutral and caring perspective and I think Tom’s films show that more than most other filmmakers.
Miguelito screens on October 18, 2019 at the Antenna Film Festival in Sydney.
Hi will we be able to see it in Melbourne?